The 16th seed APSU Lady Govs will travel to Knoxville, Tennessee to face the number one seed, UT Lady Vols in the first round of the NCAA Tournament in the Memphis bracket. Tip-off for the game will be at 12:16 p.m. Eastern Standard Time on ESPN2 on Saturday March 20th.

Marlon Scott | Senior Staff Writer

For the second year in a row, the Lady Govs and the Eastern Illinois Panthers played each other for the Ohio Valle Conference Tournament Championship and an automatic bid to the 2010 NCAA Tournament.

It took two overtimes to decide a winner last year. This year it did not take as long, but the result was the same.

The Lady Govs are going to the dance again.

The Lady Govs defeated the Panthers in the OVC Tournament Championship game Saturday, March 6, 69-60.

All five Lady Gov starters scored at least 10 points. Senior forward Nicole Jamen lead the team with 19 points and grabbed 11 rebounds. Both she and sophomore center Jasmine Rayner earned double-doubles. Rayner pulled down 10 rebounds and scored 12.

Junior guard Ashley Herring added 15 points with nine rebounds. Sophomore guard Whitney Hanley scored 12 points and junior guard Brooke Faulkner added 10.

Jamen and Herring were named to the All Tournament team. Herring was named MVP of the tournament.

“I think it was a great basketball game. Eastern Illinois never gave up and we knew they wouldn’t. They are a tremendous team,” said Lady Govs head coach Carrie Daniels. “I just credit these players. They have overcome so much this season, a season of ups and downs. But coming into this tournament, they had a focus and were on a mission. I think they definitely proved that in all three games during the tournament run.”

Points came at a premium. Both teams showed what got them to the championship game, defense. The Panther’s defense was tough. But the Lady Govs defense was smothering.

The Panthers shot just 23 percent (5-of-22) from the field in the first half. They scored only six points in the paint.

The Lady Govs shot 38 percent (12-of-32) from the field, 16 of which came in the paint. They also scored 13 points off turnovers. Jamen led the way with nine first half points and Herring scored eight.

The Lady Govs had a small lead, 13-10, after EIU center Chantelle Pressley made a 3-pointer at the 10:29 mark. Afterwards, the lead grew to 17 points when the Lady Govs went on a 13-1 run capped off by a 3-pointer by Brooke Faulkner.

However, the momentum swung to the panthers as the half came to a close. With a 9-2 run they clawed their way to within 10 points. The Lady Govs led at halftime 30-22.

The Panthers momentum carried over to the second half. Fans in blue cheered while fans in red worried when Panther Ta’Kenya Nixon made a short jumper in the paint to bring the Panthers within one point, 40-39, with 12:19 left in the game.

Nixon led all scorers with 22 points.

The Panthers got within a whisker of taking the lead but could not bring down the Lady Govs. Instead, the Lady Govs skinned the Panthers.

From the moment the Panthers got within one point, the Lady Govs responded with a 15-2 run.

With just under five minutes left in the game, Nixon made her next jumper to close the widening gap to 12 points, 55-43.

Although the Panthers would not overtake the Lady Govs, they continued to fight until the clock read 0:00. Nixon scored nine of the Panthers 10 points in the last 90 seconds of the game.

For the third straight game, the Lady Govs crashed the boards on both ends harder than their opponents. The pulled down 47 rebounds (Panthers grabbed 40) and shot 40 percent (22-of-54) from the field.

“Everybody had so much passion through this tournament, so much heart. We played together. It was an amazing experience,” Herring said.