Eastern women’s basketball stays undefeated at home behind senior forward Macy McGlone’s career-high 21 rebounds as Eastern beat Little Rock University 53-44 on Thursday night at Groniger Arena. 

McGlone’s 21 rebounds puts her among two other women in Eastern history to record 20 or more rebounds in a game. She finished one shy of the record held by Toni Collins with 22 in 1984 and McGlone tied former Panther Abby Wahl, who recorded 21 rebounds in 2020. 

“I mean, I just wanted to win and, you know, scoring points is great, but something I can really count my team with is getting rebounds,” McGlone said. “So, I guess that’s just kind of something I honed in on today. Yeah, one away from the record, but that’s okay. It’s my career high, so I’m still happy.” 

McGlone also cemented her place in Eastern history as she is now tenth in scoring all time as she recorded another double-double with 14 points. 

“It feels pretty nice to be on that list and be able to be remembered for a while,” McGlone said. “Someone might, you know, butt me out eventually, but at least for the time being, you know, kind of made a little bit of history.” 

Eastern was able to get the lead early as a four-minute 11-0 run gave Eastern the lead early in the first quarter, and the Panthers never lost it.  

Eastern’s defense was able to hold Little Rock to only 24.2% from the field. However, Eastern committed 22 turnovers to Little Rock’s eight.  

Little Rock tried a comeback as the game came within four points at the start of the fourth quarter. However, a 6-0 run by Eastern sealed the game with 1:36 left. 

Eastern had help from returning senior guard Kiyley Flowers. Flowers has been out the past two weeks with a leg injury and played for limited minutes tonight. She said she is not worried about her injury. 

“My thing was just to go out there and play,” Flowers said. 

Flowers finished with six points and one steal as she was able to get back onto the court before the Ohio Valley Conference tournament. 

“Having that live action, this is the first time you really play in that live action,” Flowers said. “So, first time you have the defense right there in front of you, first time you’re actually guarding people trying to make moves.” 

With Eastern’s win, the team is now locked in as the three seed in the OVC Tournament. Eastern will get a first-round bye and will play their first game on Thursday, March 6. Eastern finished in a higher seed than last year, but first year head coach Marqus McGlothan is not trying to compare from last year. 

“I mean, it feels good, but I’m not really here to compare what happened last year,” McGlothan said. “Our team is different, the conference, some of those teams are different, and so you can’t really compare that, but our big thing is just good to have that three seed, good to have the bye, and now for us to be prepared to go into that tournament.” 

Eastern continued to be perfect at home as Eastern is now 12-0 and has won the last 15 at home.  

“You know, big thing as a coach and just as a team, you want to protect the home,” McGlothan said. “And so, we did a great job of that so far.” 

Eastern goes into the final game of the regular season not playing for much. Their opponents, Southeast Missouri State, are going into the game playing for a spot in the OVC tournament. 

The game starts at 1 p.m. on Saturday at Groniger Arena. 

Patrick Schmitz can be reached at 581-2812 or at pfschmitz@eiu.edu.