What can you do when the best team in your conference gets off to its best start of the season? Not much, the Eastern women’s basketball team found out Thursday in a 98-57 loss to Belmont … not much.

What the Bruins, now 14-1 in conference play, could do on offense was no secret to the Panthers headed into Thursday night’s game, but what Belmont was able to do in the first quarter of that game came as a shock to everyone. A shock that Eastern felt occurred thanks to a Panthers’ lack of execution on defense.

“The one thing we didn’t control was doing a good job of getting a hand in their face and being more proactive on the shot,” said Eastern head coach Matt Bollant. “They made seven straight threes and we need to do a better job of making the shots tougher.”

Belmont opened the game with four made three-point shots on four straight possessions, while on the other end of the floor, Eastern clanked two shots off the rim and air-balled another to begin the first quarter with a 12-0 lead in just over two-minutes of play.

Grace Lennox finally gave Eastern a basket with 7:52 to play in the first quarter to make the score 12-2 early until Darby Maggard came back for Belmont, and you guessed it, made another three for Belmont, the 400th of her career.

On the next Belmont possession, Maggard made her 401^st career three-pointer and by the time the first quarter was over, Maggard was 5-of-5 three-point shooting, and her team had a 35-10 lead, thanks to shooting 9-of-12 from three-point range as a team.

Bollant also credited Belmont’s hot start to the coaching staff making the decision to start the game out in zone defense. Bollant and his staff thought this strategy would take away the Bruins inside game and penetration, but instead it forced the Bruins outside where they executed nearly flawlessly.

Things evened out more in the second quarter; Belmont outscored Eastern just 21-19 in that quarter, but the weight of a 25-point first quarter deficit still hung heavily on the Panthers headed into halftime.

Belmont continued the three-point shooting barrage into the second half and finished with 19 made three-pointers, tying the program record for most in a game.

Eastern hung with Belmont again in the third quarter, getting outscored just 25-21, but when the reserves came in for the fourth quarter, Belmont held Eastern to just seven points.

Maggard finished with a game-high 25 points, scoring 21 points on seven made three-pointers.

Four other Bruins scored in double-figures, Ellie Harmeyer had 16 points, Maura Muensterman had 15 points, Jenny Roy had 12 and Conley Chinn added 10 of her own.

“That (Belmont production) is the standard we are trying to get to,” Bollant said. “Their five starters are all really good basketball players and they played like it.”

Karle Pace and Taylor Steele, like they have so many times this season, led Eastern in scoring with 13 points each.

Neither was particularly impressive from three-point range, unable to match the precedent the Bruins set early in the game. Pace was just 2-of-5 three-point shooting, and Steele was 1-of-6.

The Bruins shot 65 percent from the field in the game, 20 percent higher than their season average of 45 percent. Belmont score 90-plus points in a conference game for the third time this season in the win, as its offense continues to carry it on this now 13-game winning streak.

Belmont’s win secured them at least a tie for first place in the conference with three games remaining, for Eastern; however, the loss paints a much grimmer picture for what lies ahead for the Panthers.

The Panthers, now at 4-11 in conference play, have very little hope of making the conference tournament, as even winning out in their remaining games would still require lots of other dominoes to fall in Eastern’s favor for a conference tournament berth to happen.

Eastern stays in Nashville to play Tennessee State (4-11) on Saturday; a loss in that game would almost certainly end Eastern’s tournament hopes.

Bollant said there was no doubt his team needs a win Saturday to stay in the tournament conversation.

JJ Bullock can be reached at 581-2812 or jpbullock@eiu.edu.