The UTM women’s basketball team picked up a crucial conference road win Thursday night against the Eastern Ky. Lady Colonels, 73-62.

The first half was a classic battle, with the largest lead belonging to the Skyhawks at 20-14. The teams both played aggressive defense, leading to sloppy offensive possessions.

The half appeared destined to end in a tie when a foul was called against the Skyhawks on a three-point attempt with 0.4 seconds remaining on the clock.

The three free throws that followed snapped the tie and gave the Panthers a 33-30 halftime edge. After two free throws to open the second-half scoring extended the EIU lead to 35-30, Andreika Jackson sparked a 7-0 Skyhawk run.

A ten-point swing in the first five minutes of the half turned the early five-point deficit into a five-point lead. From there, the Skyhawks claimed complete control of the game.

The Skyhawks’ stifling defense held the Panthers without a field goal through the first 9:00 of the half.

An 8-0 burst gave the Skyhawks their largest lead at 52-38 with less than 12:00 left in the game.

Eastern Illinois responded with an 8-0 run of its own to force a UTM timeout with 8:45 left and the Skyhawks leading by six points, 52-46. Jenny Lannom scored to increase the lead to 61-52 with less than five minutes left.

“We’ve got to have a killer instinct to get teams down by 15 and then take it to 20,” said coach Tansil.

The Skyhawks were a perfect 12-of-12 from the free throw line. Deina Willingham, a 49-percent free throw shooter on the season, knocked down 6-of-6 while scoring a career-high 18 points. She also pulled down eight rebounds.

Willingham was joined by three other UTM scorers in double figures. Although they attempted more free throws than the Skyhawks, the Panthers only made 73 percent of their attempts.

The Skyhawks also held an advantage in shooting from the floor and on the boards, out-shooting the Panthers, 48 percent to 43 percent, and grabbing 32 rebounds to EIU’s 28.

The Skyhawks’ pesky defense forced 22 Panther turnovers, eight more than they committed on offense.

The team’s success was due in large part to the emergence of its role players after leading scorer Andreika Jackson picked up two early fouls in the first half.

“Our bench stepped up and played really well for us tonight,” said UTM coach Tara Tansil.

The win pushed the Skyhawks’ OVC record to 8-7, good enough for a fourth-place tie with a road game at SEMO remaining.

UTM senior Jenny Lannom scored a career-high 20 points Saturday against host Southeast Missouri State, but it wasn’t enough for the Skyhawks to upset the Redhawks in the regular season finale for both teams. SEMO’s Tatiana Conceicao led all scorers with 23 points and 12 rebounds and led her team to a 76-63 win over the Skyhawks. Conceicao came off the bench and went 6-for-15 from the field and 11-for-12 at the free throw line. SEMO claimed a 38-31 lead at halftime, but the Skyhawks battled back early in the first half and cut the deficit to two, 38-36, when Deina Willingham scored two of her 13 points with 17:50 to play. SEMO went on a 16-5 run and led 56-41 with 12:49 to play. Tiffanne Ryan capped off the run with a three-pointer. Ryan finished the game with 14 points for SEMO. In the first half SEMO hit just one three-pointer out of nine attempts. In the second half, SEMO knocked down four three-pointers. The Redhawks took 23 attempts from beyond the arch. The Skyhawks lost the rebounding battle (37-28) and committed 25 turnovers in the game. The Skyhawks loss combined with Tennessee State’s win over Jacksonville State drops the Skyhawks to sixth in the final Ohio Valley Conference regular season standings. The Skyhawks finish the regular season with a 9-18 overall record and an 8-8 worksheet under the direction of first-year head coach Tara Tansil. The Skyhawks will advance to the OVC tournament. They travel to Cookeville where they will meet No. 3 seeded Tennessee Tech today in the tournament’s first round. “Whoever we end up playing in the OVC tournament has beaten us once, so we’ve got to go and get those wins back,” said Tansil. Tipoff is set for 5:30 p.m. Top-seeded Eastern Ky. will be taking on eighth ranked Murray State today at 4:30 p.m. in Richmond, Ky.