HALDEMAN, Ky. (Interstat) — The Morehead State Eagles, leveraging a balanced offensive attack and a decisive fourth-quarter push, handed the Western Illinois Leathernecks just their third loss of the season with a 63-53 victory in an Ohio Valley Conference women’s basketball game Thursday night at E.T. Johnson Arena.

In a matchup where the visiting Leathernecks were significant statistical favorites, the Eagles methodically built and maintained a lead, stifling Western Illinois’s attempts to rally and holding them to a season-low in points before an announced crowd of 817.

The game’s pivotal stretch arrived late in the third quarter and bled into the fourth. Western Illinois, trailing by ten, mounted a characteristic surge. A driving layup by Mia Nicastro and a jump shot from Mallory Shetley, both assisted by Addi Brownfield, sparked a 6-0 run that cut the Morehead State lead to 44-40 with under two minutes left in the third.

The Eagles’ response was immediate and crushing. On the ensuing possession, Violet McNece sank a critical three-pointer off an assist from Landon Forbes to halt the momentum. After a Shetley jumper, McNece connected from deep again just before the third-quarter buzzer, pushing the advantage back to 47-42 and sapping the energy from the Leathernecks’ comeback bid.

Morehead State then opened the final period with a 9-2 run, capped by another McNece three-pointer, to establish its largest lead at 56-44 with 6:44 remaining. Western Illinois, which entered the contest with a 15-2 record and a projected 72.3% win probability by Interstat’s ELO system, could not string together enough stops or scores to seriously threaten again, managing only nine points in the fourth quarter.

The Eagles were led by a standout performance from Violet McNece of Chesterfield, Missouri, who scored 18 points in just 20 minutes, including four three-pointers. Her backcourt mate, Marie Sepp of Tallinn, Estonia, played the entire 40 minutes, contributing 13 points and five assists while orchestrating the offense. The frontcourt duo of Kate Dike from Kyiv, Ukraine, and Laura Toffali of Villasanta, Italy, each added 17 and 13 points, respectively, with Dike also recording two blocks.

For Western Illinois, Addi Brownfield of Boonville, Missouri, shouldered the load with 17 points, seven assists and two blocks. Mallory Shetley from Bourbon, Missouri, added 15 points, and Mia Nicastro of St. Charles, Missouri, finished with 12. The Leathernecks’ offense, however, never found a consistent rhythm against a disciplined Morehead State defense.

The Eagles set the tone early, opening the game with a 14-13 first-quarter edge and extending it to a 28-24 halftime lead. They maintained that cushion throughout the third quarter before delivering the knockout blows to start the fourth.

With the win, Morehead State improves to 11-9 overall and evens its conference record. The Eagles will host Eastern Illinois on Saturday. Western Illinois, which saw a multi-game win streak snapped, falls to 15-3. The Leathernecks will look to rebound on the road at Southern Indiana on Saturday. The two teams are scheduled to meet again in Macomb, Illinois, on Feb. 21.