Eastern women’s basketball dropped their fourth-straight game after falling to Northern Illinois by a final score of 79-63.

With the loss, Eastern is now 1-4 on the season and 0-3 away from its home floor.

Eastern kept themselves within striking distance throughout the first half with the halftime score standing at 32-26 in favor of NIU.

Despite that, NIU would outscore Eastern by 10 in the second half to put the game away.

NIU led wire-to-wire and carried the edge to the final whistle.

Eastern was outrebounded 49-25 during the game, including 33-16 on the defensive end. Eastern has lost every game that they have not held a rebounding advantage in.

Eastern shot 37.9 percent from the floor compared to NIU’s 51.7 percent.

Within the paint, Eastern was outscored by NIU 46-26.

Despite the difficult night with rebounds and points in the paint, Eastern turned the ball over just 13 times to Northern’s 21.

Senior guard Shakita Cox lead Eastern with 16 points off a 5-11 shooting performance. She also recorded three rebounds and three assists.

Freshman forward Halle Stull posted 14 points off 7-13 from the floor, with her team leading five rebounds.

Sophomore guard Grace Lennox went 4-11 with 12 points and five assists. She also was perfect at the free-throw line.

The Panthers will see their next action on Saturday at 3 p.m. as they visit 3-0 Saint Louis, who will play Indiana State Wednesday.

Elias Albert can be reached at 581-2812 or at ewalbert@eiu.edu