Feb. 14, 2007

Box Score

CHARLESTON, Ill. - Senior center Lachelle Lyles (Chicago, Ill./Shelton State CC) tallied her eighth double-double of the year with a career-best 14 points and 21 rebounds as Southeast Missouri State produced a 63-42 victory over host Eastern Illinois tonight in an Ohio Valley Conference matchup at EIU's Lantz Arena. The Redhawks improve to 18-7 (13-4) with the win, while the Panthers drop their season record to 9-17 (6-11).

The Panthers opened the game with an early 8-2 leading margin in just three and a half minutes with freshman Jessica Huffman going 4-of-4 from the free throw line. Junior forward Missy Whitney (Charleston, Mo./Three Rivers CC) paced a 15-2 Southeast scoring run over an eight-plus minute period with 10 points as the visitors captured a 17-10 lead at the 7:56 mark. After Julie Lipperd tallied a three-point play to bring EIU to within four (17-13) with 6:34 remaining, the Redhawks ended the half outscoring the home team by a 19-6 margin, capped by an acrobatic layup from sophomore guard Tarina Nixon (Gilbert, Ariz./Highland) to enter the intermission with a 36-19 lead.

Freshman Ashley Thomas personally outscored Southeast, 5-2, in the first minute and a half of the second stanza to slice EIU's deficit to 38-24. Sophomore guard Sonya Daugherty (St. Louis, Mo./Hancock) tallied eight points as the Redhawks produced 18 of the next 30 points over a 10-minute stretch to post a 58-38 lead on a three-point play by Nixon at the 5:50 mark. A tip-in by Lyles just 22 seconds later handed Southeast its biggest lead of the contest at 58-36 and the Panthers would get no closer the rest of the way.

Whitney added 14 points with seven rebounds and a career-best six blocked shots, and Daugherty contributed 14 points for Southeast. Nixon produced 12 points, a career-best seven steals, four assists and three rebounds, while sophomore forward Rachel Blunt (Dexter, Mo./Dexter) posted a career-high nine rebounds.

EIU was led by sophomore center Rachel Galligan's double-double of 15 points and 11 rebounds to go along with three blocks and three steals. Huffman and Thomas added 10 points, respectively, for the Panthers.

Southeast shot 36 percent from the field and forced EIU to a shooting percentage of 21 percent while holding advantages in rebounds (52-42), assists (11-10) and steals (18-6). The Redhawks also scored 31 points off 21 Panther turnovers.

The Redhawks face Tennessee-Martin in their final home OVC game of the regular season at the Show Me Center this Saturday (Feb. 17) evening with a start time of 5 p.m.