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.

Photos By Lois Jones | Senior Photographer

The Lady Govs continued Ohio Valley Conference Tournament play Friday, March 5, against OVC Player of the Year Chynna Bozeman and the Morehead Eagles.

The Eagles swept the Lady Govs in the regular season. The question Friday was could they beat the Lady Govs three times in the row?

The Lady Govs answered with a resounding no.

The road to the Big Dance still has to come through the Lady Govs. They defeated Morehead 78-71 and advanced to the OVC Tournament Championship game for the second year in a row.

“Morehead is a tremendously talented team, obviously,” said Lady Govs head coach Carrie Daniels. “They had beaten us twice this year very handedly and so we knew that we were up against a tough task.”

Lady Govs junior guard Ashley Herring jump started the team with the first six points of the game. The Lady Govs used the momentum and established an 11-4 lead at the 15:33 mark.

The Eagles slowed the Lady Govs down and fought to within one point, 10-19 at the 9:51 mark. However, they Lady Govs would not relinquish the lead the whole first half.

The dynamic duo of senior forward Nicole Jamen and sophomore Jasmine Rayner, helped the Lady Govs finish strong and go into halftime ahead of the Eagles, 40-32.

Herring led the team with 11 first half points. Jamen and Rayner were right behind her with 10 and nine points respectively.

Bozemon scored 15 in the first half. But the Eagles normally potent 3-point shooting game was anemic. They made only 3-of-13 (23 percent) from 3-point range.

The Eagles soared on a 12-2 run at the beginning of the second half. It gave them their first lead of the game, 44-42 with 15:53 remaining.

But the lead was short lived. The lead changed hands three times. At the 12:43 mark, junior guard Brooke Faulkner made her second 3-pointer of the game to give the Lady Govs a 52-49 lead.

Afterwards, the Lady Govs went on an 11-2 run and did not look back. The Eagles would get no closer than seven points the rest of the game.

Four Lady Govs finished the game with double-digit points. Herring scored 21. Both Rayner and Jamen got double-doubles. Jamen pulled down 15 rebounds in addition to her 13 points for the second game in a row. Rayner scored 20 with 11 rebounds. Whitney Hanley scored 16.
“I think the key was with everything we faced throughout the season, the ups and downs, we had to put that behind us coming into the tournament because it was a clean slate,” Daniels said. “Again its one and done; if you lose, you go home. We had a fresh start and we had to play like the talent that we have and our true capabilities. I feel like, for two games now, that is what we have done.”