Eastern’s women’s basketball head coach, Marqus McGlothan, was already worried, with just 48 seconds off the clock in the team’s 69-49 victory over Tennessee State. 

His team was playing fine.  

In fact, after a steal and score from senior guard Kiyley Flowers, his team was up 2-0.  

But his team wasn’t what made McGlothan worried; it was Flowers who was lying on the ground long after her layup. 

Eventually, fifth year forward Jayda Johnston came off the bench and carried Flowers off the court. She left the game with 9:12 left in the first quarter. Flowers wouldn’t return until there was five and a half minutes left in the second quarter. 

She came out in crutches and a boot on her right foot.

“I was just worried about her, just trying to make sure she’s alright,” McGlothan said. “I saw her go down and, you know, it’s her senior year and things like that, you don’t wish those types of things on anybody.” 

Flowers leads the team in assists (103) and steals (68) throughout the season. Her 68 steals rank her 14th in the nation. 

“She goes to get looked at tomorrow and from there, we’ll figure out what we need to do,” McGlothan said.

Despite her absence, the team still beat Tennessee State by 20 points.

The score wasn’t always so lopsided. The Panther’s led by three going into half, when the score was 30-27.  

“[I accredit the loss to] us not respecting our opponent,” Candice Dupree, Tennessee State’s head coach said. “Their bench scored forty-something points, which for us is unacceptable. I just think we got crushed in the third quarter; our defensive pressure just wasn’t there.” 

Eastern scored 21 points in the third, while Tennessee State scored 13.  

“We went into halftime, we were up by three,” senior forward Macy McGlone said. “We just, you know, stayed confident. We were just, like, you know, ‘keep doing what we’re doing and we’ll be fine.’ We just hit shots in the second half and were able to pull away.” 

Eastern’s three-point percentage was 25% for the first half. It rose to 37.5% in the third quarter and 40% in the fourth. 

Junior guard Tiny Lewis led the team in points (21) and three-pointers going four for seven behind the arc. 

“Tiny stepped up,” McGlothan said. “I told her during the game, ‘I’ve seen you score 30 multiple times; we need you to go ahead and score.’ She’s somebody I know got the capability of scoring.” 

McGlothan also gave a shoutout to sophomore guard Lalani Ellis, who had 10 points, nine rebounds and five assists. She was third on the team in scoring. 

Senior guard Alex Rouse had 14 points, the second-most on the team. 

“I don’t know if the game plan really changed,” McGlone said. “I mean, Kiyley brings a lot of really great things, but we also have a lot of really good pieces. So we just stuck with the game plan and did what we were planning on doing.”

With this win, the Panthers are currently 15-9 overall and an Ohio Valley Conference record of 12-3.

Eastern’s next game is against University of Tennessee-Martin on Saturday. Tipoff is scheduled for 1 p.m. in Groniger Arena.

Aidan Cusack can be reached at 581-2812 or at atcusack@eiu.edu.