Eastern lost their second straight game 55-48 to Little Rock.
Eastern was able to start the game aggressively and jumped to a three-point lead at the end of the first quarter.
The second quarter was a different story.
Little Rock became more aggressive and efficient in the second quarter. The Trojans shot 50 percent from the field and finished the half up by eight points.
“I feel like there was a big momentum swing in the second quarter when we were up six, and we had some open threes to go up nine, and then we just kind of stopped scoring, and I felt like that affected our defense,” Panthers’ head coach Matt Bollant said. “Then we you know, gave up a bunch of points late in the half. In the other quarters, you look at it, we were right there or ahead. We won the first quarter and the fourth. We were right there in the third, but at the end of the half, I felt like we missed open shots, and then we just didn’t defend the way we needed to in that quarter.”
In the third quarter, the Panthers tried to come back but were out-rebounded 14-5.
Rebounds were an issue as Little Rock was able to pull away.
Junior forward Taris Thornton only had two rebounds in the game and tied for the least rebounds on the team.
“Honestly, just like focusing more on getting to the basket to get that and just doing what I do and going to get them,” Thornton said.
The game came down to who could shoot better, and Little Rock was able to as they were led by senior guard Jayla Brooks with 18 points.
“I mean, we knew she was a shooter before the game, but we just didn’t take it away and she had multiple open shots,” junior forward Macy McGlone said. “I mean, she’s like the only girl on the team that’s really a 3-point shooter. So, we couldn’t do our job and stop her.”
Even with the loss, McGlone was able to record her 11th straight double-double with 22 points and 13 rebounds.
McGlone is now one game away from tying Toni Collins with the most double-doubles in program history at 19.
Eastern is now sixth in the Ohio Valley Conference with the loss.
Eastern is looking to rebound from two straight losses on Thursday at 5:00 p.m. against Southern Indiana University.
Southern Indiana is first in the OVC and just lost their first game in conference against Tennessee State University.
Patrick Schmitz can be reached at 581-2812 or at densportsdesk@gmail.com.
