The Eastern women’s basketball team needed to defeat Southern Illinois-Edwardsville Saturday or it needed Tennessee-Martin to defeat Austin Peay.

The Panthers lost to Edwardsville 67-58 in Edwardsville on Saturday afternoon, but Eastern got the help it needed as Tennessee-Martin defeated Austin Peay 116-85.

Edwardsville went on a 10-2 run midway through the first half to give them their biggest lead of the game at nine points at 42-33.

The Panthers would get back into the game going on a 10-0 run in a span of about five minutes to give them a one-point lead capped off by a made jumper by Katlyn Payne.

Payne only attempted five shots and converted on two of those for a season-low four points. Payne said Edwardsville did not really do anything to take her out of the game.

“I took myself out of the game,” Payne said.

With the game tied at 53 with about 4:30 minutes left, the Panthers started falling apart.

They had two made field goals in the last five minutes. Edwardsville ended the game on a 14-5 run, which was propelled by the Cougars converting on missed shots from the Panthers.

Payne said the Panthers were not able to click in the last couple minutes of the game, which caused them to lose.

All hopes of a postseason seemed to be lost, leading to a somber locker room, but when the Panthers found out about Austine Peay’s loss, blissfulness spread through the Eastern bus on its way back to Charleston.

A bright spot for the Panthers was freshman Erica Brown, who hit 5-of-10 shots from the field, scoring 10 points and recording five rebounds in 21 minutes.

In the loss, the Panthers shot 38.6 percent from the field and committed 11 turnovers, but part of that 38.6 percent was 3-of-17 from the 3-point line.

Eastern was outscored in bench points 28-10, outscored in points in the paint 34-26 and outscored in second-chance points 23-5.

Also the Panthers had trouble getting rebounds, as they were out rebounded 44-35.

But, as Debbie Black’s first season as a head coach came to a close, the Panthers finished the season with a 12-15 record in the regular season and 7-9 in conference.

The season is not over for the Panthers, as they will head to Nashville, Tenn. on Wednesday to play Eastern Kentucky, which Eastern defeated 75-71 earlier in the season at Lantz Arena.

The Panthers will go into the tournament as the No. 8 seed, with the Colonels the No. 5 seed.

Eastern Kentucky comes in with a 15-12 record overall and a 7-9 record in the OVC.

The winner will play Tennessee State at noon on Thursday.

Eastern and Eastern Kentucky will start at noon Wednesday in the Municipal Auditorium.

Bob Reynolds can be reached at 581-2812 or rjreynolds@eiu.edu.