By JOHN BOHNENKAMP

MACOMB, Ill. — The lament after Western Illinois’ 87-85 double-overtime loss to Morehead State on Thursday night wasn’t about how the Leathernecks finished.

It was more about the start.

Western Illinois scored just 16 first-half points, fell behind by 17 points twice in the third quarter, then had a furious comeback to force both overtimes.

“You can’t play three really poor quarters of basketball,” Western Illinois coach JD Gravina said.

The Leathernecks opened a four-game home stretch to close the regular season with a chance to make a run to at least getting a bye in the Ohio Valley Conference women’s basketball tournament. Now Western Illinois (16-10 overall, 7-8 OVC) needs to sweep the final three games and hope for some help.

The Leathernecks shot just 20 percent in the first half and were down 30-16 at halftime.

“We scored 16 points in the first half. That’s unacceptable,” said guard Kaylen Reed, who was part of the lineup that sparked the second-half run.

“Not to take anything away from their defense, but they weren’t doing anything that was bothering us — not pressuring us or bothering us or playing some crazy zone,” Gravina said. “That was pretty disappointing.”

Western Illinois was down 42-25 with 1:55 left in the third quarter when Gravina put Reed in to go along with a lineup of reserves Carla Flores, Mallory McDermott and Jasmine Nichols along with starter Anna Deets. The Leathernecks scored seven points in the last 1:22, starting an 18-2 run that got them back in the game.

“I think it was just being resilient, staying with it,” McDermott said. “I don’t think we forced the issue, I think we just let the game come to us, get into transition, do what we’re good at. I think we were playing with a good pace. Kaylen was pushing the ball well. I think we had a lot of energy.”

“Honestly, it was our energy, our defensive energy,” Reed said. “We really picked it up. We had to keep going, we had to be aggressive, no matter what was happening, no matter what was going against us. I think the energy and communication went to another level. I think we flowed well on offense.”

“I liked they were getting it done,” Gravina said. “I saw they had some confidence, and that’s what basketball is. It wasn’t like I wasn’t mad at the top group.”

The Leathernecks got it to overtime when Deets was fouled on a 3-point shot with one second left. She made all three free throws to tie the game at 56.

Gravina stuck with the same lineup until Morehead State (14-13, 9-7) pulled ahead, 65-58, with 2:40 to play in the first overtime. The rest of the Leathernecks’ starters — Raegan McCowan, Addi Brownfield, Alissa Dins and Allie Meadows — came back in and helped ignite a second run. Reed’s driving shot with two seconds left tied the game at 73 and forced a second overtime.

“I really liked the way that group, that was rested, came back in and made another run,” Gravina said.

Morehead State then took control of the game late in the second overtime, finishing off the win with five free throws in the final 46 seconds.

McCowan led Western Illinois with 18 points. McDermott had 17, Brownfield had 13 and Deets had 10.

Veronica Charles led Morehead State with 31 points.

The Leathernecks play host to first-place Southern Indiana on Saturday.

“You take the good things from this one,” McDermott said. “Being resilient enough to come back from (17) is big, and I think we have to just look forward. Every game in the league is like this, so we have to keep moving forward.”

“This shows us how mentally tough we are, and how we can overcome things,” Reed said. “But we definitely wanted to finish it out.”