After back-to-back tough losses, the Eastern women’s basketball team bounced back in a big way against Austin Peay to begin the second half of the conference season.

The Panthers never trailed to the Governors and led by as many as 31 points on their way to a 76-47 victory.

Eastern head coach Matt Bollant said he was pleased with the team’s response following a 92-87 overtime loss against Murray State on Thursday, as well as their ability to come out and pick up a big win right after.

“I thought it was huge,” Bollant said. “I was really curious to see what they looked like Friday, because it was painful Thursday. We really let one slip away that we had. But Friday in practice their resiliency was really good. Their joy was really good. I kind anticipated good things today. I don’t think you ever anticipate it going that well.”

It started going well for the Panthers in the first quarter. They outscored the Governors 22-6 in the opening period while shooting 8-of-13 from the field and 4-6 from three-point range.

“I though we came out with a lot of confidence and looked really confident shooting the ball,” Bollant said. “Obviously when you’re making threes everything looks better offensively.”

He also said he liked the defense’s guarding and switching in the first quarter. Eastern held Austin Peay to just 2-of-10 shooting and 0-of-4 from beyond the three-point line.

Leading the Panthers on this early charge was freshman Lariah Washington. Coming off a 35-point performance against Murray State, Washington scored the Panthers’ first seven points of the game, finishing with nine in the quarter to outscore the entire Governors’ team.

She added one more point in the second quarter before going scoreless the rest of the way, but another freshman, Morgan Litwiller, picked up the scoring in the second half.

After going scoring seven in the first half, Litwiller added 11 in the second to set a new career high with 18 points. She shot 2-3 from three in each half and utilized a nifty Euro step to complete a layup in the fourth quarter despite being fouled on the shot.

Litwiller has recorded her three highest-scoring games in conference play this season, and Washington has upped her scoring average in conference play as well.

“They were just coming out to the bus and I said, ‘you guys didn’t play like freshmen this week,’” Bollant said. “They’re just really talented. They’re smart. They don’t try to overdo it. They try to take what’s there for them, and I thought both of them played great today.”

Another key performer for the Panthers was sophomore forward Abby Wahl. She was third on the team with 16 points and shot 7-of-13 from the field, adding four rebounds to her effort as well.

The team’s leading scorer was, as has been the case many times this season, Karle Pace.

It was a homecoming game of sorts for Pace, who went to high school just seven miles from Austin Peay’s campus in Clarksville, Tennessee.

She had a section of family and friends in the stands, and they got to see her put up 19 points, shooting 6-0f-12 from the field and 5-of-7 from three-point range.

After Austin Peay cut the Panther lead to 19 points in the third quarter, still an ominous deficit but the closest the Governors had been since early in the second quarter, Pace responded with a three to put the lead back over 20 points, where it would remain through the final buzzer.

“That’s her home town, so sometimes kids go back to their home town and want it so bad they just don’t play well,” Bollant said. “She showed today just how mature she is. She’s got the clutch gene, she believes its going in, and to step out and play and hit five threes out of seven shots in front of your hometown crowd, that’s pretty cool.”

Eastern will leave Clarksville and head back home to Lantz Arena, where they will host Eastern Kentucky Feb. 6 at 5:15 p.m. and Morehead State Feb. 8 at 1 p.m.

The Panthers beat both teams already this season, defeating the Colonels 83-63 on Jan. 9 and the Eagles 57-51 Jan. 11.

Adam Tumino can be reached at 581-2812 or ajtumino@eiu.edu.