CHARLESTON, Ill. – For the second time this season, the Jacksonville State women's basketball team dropped a contest at the buzzer as Eastern Illinois slipped past the Gamecocks, 66-63, on Saturday at EIU's Lantz Arena.

Preseason Ohio Valley Conference Player of the Year Sabina Oroszova's desperation three pointer as the buzzer sounded was the difference after the Gamecocks employed a full court press in the final minute to even the contest at 63-all.  Jax State fell to 10-4 on the season and 1-1 in OVC play after the opening weekend of conference play.  The Panthers of EIU, who began league play having lost six consecutive games, completed the weekend with a sweep of Tennessee Tech and JSU.

For the third consecutive game, JSU started strong by hitting eight of its first 12 shots to race out to a 10-point, 22-12 lead by the 12:17 mark of the opening half.  After maintaining a double digit lead of 24-14 with 11:02 left in the first half, EIU would match JSU's quick start with a run of its own.  The Panthers went on a 10-0 scoring run that spanned over six minutes to even the contest at 24 with 5:42 left in the half.  The Gamecocks responded with a quick 7-0 scoring spurt to take a 31-24 advantage with 3:35 left on the clock.  Destany McLin's free throw with under a minute left in the period gave her squad a 32-30 lead, but an EIU free throw and a jumper by Bh'rea Griffen right before the halftime horn gave EIU a 33-32 lead at the break.

The Gamecocks had to fight from behind the rest of the way and trailed by as many as eight points on two occasions with the final eight-point EIU lead at 59-51 with 4:40 left to play.  JSU would make a run at the Panthers that was sparked by seniors Miranda Cantrell and Courtney Strain.  During the run, Cantrell scored three of her 15 points – which matched her season-high and led all JSU scorers.  Strain, who also matched her career high of 18 points for the third time this season, had a key three-point basket and a pair of free throws to match EIU at 59-all with 2:58 to play. 
EIU would regain the lead at 63-59 on two successful trips down the floor with 1:20 in the contest.  McLin had two trips to the charity stripe in the final 51 seconds and hit just two of the four.  After her steal on the defensive end of the floor, the Athens, Alabama-native's first attempt rimmed off, but her second knotted the game at 63 with 10 seconds left to play.

JSU was looking for back-to-back wins over EIU and the first win on the Panthers' home floor since 2007.  The three-point setback snapped the Gamecocks' four-game winning streak.
After its fast start, JSU cooled off to shoot 39 percent from the field and hit 8-of-19 from beyond the arc.  EIU shot an even 50 percent from the field, aided by 13-of-23 shooting in the opening half.  Even though Oroszova had the game-winner, it was Arnisha Thomas, who registered a game-high 22 points on 7-of-14 shooting and 8-of-15 from the free throw line.  Erica Brown, who entered the contest averaging 7.6 points per game, tallied a season-high 20 points.

The Gamecocks had the edge in the rebounding department, but EIU took advantage of its nine offensive rebounds to match it with nine points. Outside of Cantrell and Courtney Strain, senior Candace Morton reached double figures with 11 points.  McLin added eight points.

JSU returns home for three consecutive OVC contests, beginning on Thursday, Jan. 8 against Austin Peay.  The match up with the Lady Govs will be the first of a doubleheader with the Jax State men.  Tip off is set for 5:30 p.m. at Pete Mathews Coliseum.