For the first time since Christmas break, the Skyhawk women’s basketball team is on a winning streak, picking up their second victory in a row against Eastern Illinois Saturday night, 70-64.

This win helps to keep the Skyhawks’ post season hopes up, giving them an overall record of 7-16, 6-10 in the conference as of Feb. 12. Currently sitting in 8th place in the OVC standings, the Skyhawks headed to Morehead State for what could prove to be a must-win game against the Lady Eagles.

Tip-off for Monday’s game was scheduled for 6 p.m. and as of press time, no scores were available.

A win over Morehead would flop UTM and MOR in the standings and give the Skyhawks a little more breathing room as they will next travel to take on top-ranked Tennessee Tech and second place Southeast Missouri State at home before rounding out the season at Murray against the Lady Racers.

En route to the much-needed victory, junior Andreika Jackson put up a season-high 30 points with 21 of them coming in the first half. By the end of the first twenty minutes, Jackson had picked up her fourth double-double of the season, picking up 11 of her 19 before the break.

The Skyhawks completely dominated the Panthers in the first, beating them in nearly every single statistical category. UTM had 28 points in the paint, eight points off turnovers and 10 second chance points to EIU’s four, four and zero, respectively.

At the half, the Skyhawks were up 29-16 after leading by as much as 14.

During the beginning of the second, the Skyhawks managed to pull even farther away, increasing their lead to 18 just a little over 1:15 into the half off a three point play by junior Deina Willingham.

Willingham complimented Jackson’s effort with 17 points, four assists and four rebounds. This makes the 16th time this season that Willingham has banked 10 or more points.

The Skyhawks went on a 12-7 run to pull out in front by 19, 45-26. With three minutes left to play, Eastern managed to scare everyone in the Elam Center just a little bit, pulling to within nine.

The Panthers went on an 11-6 point run to close the gap to just four points with less than 30 seconds left in the game. Four of their 11 points came off free-throws.

The Skyhawks managed to keep ahead on free throws themselves, pulling down four in the last 20 seconds. Despite a literally last second three-pointer from the Panthers, the Skyhawks held on and picked up the 70-64 win.

Rounding out the three Skyhawks to finish in double-digits was freshman Phyllisha Mitchell with ten points and five rebounds. The Skyhawks only attempted five three-point shots and made none, but were nearly 83 percent from the free throw line.