Breana Bey said it was her two biggest free throws ever.

Head Coach Lynn Bria simply called them huge.

With the scored tied at 66 and 2.7 seconds on the clock, Bey stepped to the line and calmly drained two game-winning free throws to lift Stetson to a 68-66 victory over host Eastern Illinois Sunday afternoon at Lantz Arena.

Brianti Saunders scored a season-high 23 points as the Hatters (6-3) won their third game in a row.

Stetson led 66-63 on DeAsia Beal’s reverse lay-up with 50 seconds to play.  The Panthers tied the game on a 3-pointer by Shakita Cox with 28 seconds left.  After a Stetson timeout, Aisha Turner drew several defenders her way before dumping the ball into Bey at the post, who was promptly fouled attempting to shoot.

Before Bey could go to the line, however, the referees spent several moments at the replay monitor determining who had committed the foul.

“At first I was nervous but the team encouraged me (saying) ‘You got this, let’s just do it,’” Bey said.  “It took a lot of the pressure off.”

“Two huge free throws,” Bria said.  “She just stepped up there.  There was a long delay before she shot the free throws, so I was proud of her.”

The Hatters spent most of the game trying to rally from an early 10-0 deficit.  Eastern Illinois (1-9) led 43-38 at the half and 58-54 after three quarters, but it wasn’t until Saunders hit a 3-pointer with under seven minutes remaining that Stetson had its first lead of the game.

“It was good, but we knew it wasn’t over,” Bria said.  “We had some opportunities to take the lead before and we never did.  Their record doesn’t indicate how good they really are.  They have been in a ton of close games, We were very fortunate to win this game, very fortunate”

Stetson’s defense played a major role in the fourth quarter, holding the Panthers to just two field goals and eight points in the final 10 minutes.  Sarah Sagerer had a big block with at the 3:27 mark and Beal came up with a key steal with 1:48 to play

“We finally decided to get down and guard,” Bria said.  “It made a big difference in the game.  I thought even in the third quarter we did a much better job of guarding them.”

Saunders was 8-for-13 from the field including four 3-pointers.  Sagerer finished with 15 points and Turner added 12 to help lead the offense.  Saunders and Sagerer grabbed 10 rebounds apiece for their first double-doubles of the season.

The Hatters shot 40% for the game and hit seven 3-pointers, including a halfcourt halftime buzzer beater from Turner.

Stetson will continue its two-game road swing at 11:30 a.m. Tuesday, Dec. 15, at UNCW.

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