By JOHN BOHNENKAMP

MACOMB, Ill. — Western Illinois’ women’s basketball team played two overtime games in three days, and didn’t win either.

The Leathernecks, though, hope they can take some positives away, especially after Saturday’s 96-89 loss to Southern Indiana at Western Hall.

Western Illinois (16-11 overall, 7-9 Ohio Valley Conference) lost in double overtime on Thursday to Morehead State, then fell in one overtime to the Screaming Eagles (20-6, 15-1) the OVC’s regular-season champion.

“This is probably the most frustrating, even compared to Thursday,” said Western Illinois guard Raegan McCowan, who had 45 points and eight rebounds. “It probably hurts worse than Thursday, honestly.”

“Emotionally, it was a tough week,” said senior guard Mallory McDermott. “But I think it shows we can play with anybody, and we’re ready to play with anybody.”

The Leathernecks, with two home games remaining next week to end the regular season, would like some momentum heading into the OVC tournament. Taking a team that has lost just once in conference play to overtime is a good start, they said.

“It shows us we can play with every single team in the OVC,” McCowan said. “They’ve lost one game in the conference. They can’t make it to the (NCAA) tournament (Southern Indiana is still in the transition phase of going to Division I), but they’re clearly the best team in the league. But we played with them, and I think that propels us into the OVC tournament.”

“We figured out we can play with anyone,” Western Illinois coach JD Gravina said. “When we get to the conference tournament, two seed, eight seed, it doesn’t matter. You have a chance to go compete.”

The Leathernecks had a chance to win the game with four seconds left in the second half, but Anna Deets stepped out of bounds trying to drive the baseline for a winning shot. Then, in overtime, Southern Indiana’s Ali Saunders hit a 3-pointer 10 seconds in, and Western Illinois spent the rest of the extra period chasing the Screaming Eagles. Forward Madison Webb kept getting loose inside, scoring seven consecutive points to allow Southern Indiana to pull away.

“During the overtime, we made a communication mistake on the three, and then we’re playing from behind,” Gravina said. “And then we had a hard time containing their post. I can’t fault the effort, it was just in the overtime they hit shots and it got away quick.”

“We couldn’t get stops,” McCowan said. “We couldn’t stop their post player. Kennedy (Flanagan) was playing great defense, we just had no back-side help.”

The Leathernecks were able to deal with the Screaming Eagles’ physical play — the two teams were called for a combined 57 fouls.

“I think that’s important for us to show that we can match that physicality,” Gravina said. 

“I liked that we did that,” McDermott said. “We’re not going to back down to anyone.”

Southern Indiana couldn’t stop McCowan, who was 13-of-27 from the field. She was also 17-of-18 in free throws, drawing 15 fouls.

“We have the best freshman in the country, in my opinion,” McDermott said. “She’s unreal. I know she’s capable of having a game like this.”

“She’s going to get better, and she knows that,” Gravina said. “She’s a special kid, for sure.”

Allie Meadows had 11 points for Western Illinois. Deets added 10.

Vanessa Shafford led Southern Indiana with 25 points and 10 rebounds. Webb had 15.