By JOHN BOHNENKAMP

MACOMB, Ill. — Western Illinois’ women’s basketball team clinched its spot in the Ohio Valley Conference tournament with Thursday’s 64-54 win over Eastern Illinois at Western Hall.

Not that it was really a concern the Leathernecks weren’t going to get there — the mathematics were in their favor, it was just a matter of getting a win in the final weekend of the regular season.

There was something bigger to this victory, though. The Leathernecks (17-11 overall, 8-9 OVC) have shown in the last two games that they can compete with the conference’s best heading into next weekend’s tournament in Evansville, Indiana.

Western Illinois lost in overtime last Saturday to Southern Indiana, the conference’s regular-season champion. Now the Leathernecks defeated the Panthers (14-17, 11-7) who came into the game tied for second in the conference with UT-Martin, another team Western Illinois has beaten this season.

“Take No. 1 into overtime, then take down No. 2? We’re rolling right now,” said Western Illinois guard Addi Brownfield, who had 12 points, six rebounds and five steals.

“This conference is so even,” coach JD Gravina said. “What this win does is it sets up momentum for the conference tournament.”

The Leathernecks, who also suffered a double-overtime loss to Morehead State last week, had their confidence back.

“I think we needed this,” said freshman guard Raegan McCowan, who shrugged off first-half shooting woes to finish with a game-high 18 points. “We needed this one more than any other one.

“I think we got together before this game and said, ‘We’re not losing this game.’ We needed it. We needed it so badly. We know what we want to accomplish this season, and in order to get to where we want to go, we determined we were not going to lose this game.”

The Leathernecks led just 28-25 at halftime after shooting just 26.7 percent from the field. McCowan, who averages 19.3 points in conference play, was just 1-of-10 shooting.

But McCowan hit a 3-pointer two minutes into the second half, starting a run of 6-of-10 shooting for the half, as the Leathernecks began pulling away.

“I think first half, I was pressing a little bit,” McCowan said. “They were playing up on me. I was definitely pressing. The second half, I made the adjustment, I calmed down, took my shots, and that’s what really changed.”

“With Raegan being so young, you’ve got to kind of let her go, let her learn on the fly a little bit,” Gravina said. “I think she would agree. Taking bad shots early takes her out of her rhythm. The good thing about Raegan is she’s been a scorer her whole life, so it’s like she’s never going to get passive, and that’s a positive. She’s going to shoot and score her way out of it.”

Western Illinois shot 50 percent in the second half.

“We shot it a lot better,” Gravina said. “We felt super out of rhythm in the first half. We come and go as Raegan comes and goes. She really struggled the first half, and she was really out of rhythm. The second half, she picks up her rhythm, then Alissa (Dins) picks up her scoring, then others started scoring, and we shot the ball well.”

Dins and Allie Meadows each finished with 10 points for the Leathernecks.

Macy McGlone led Eastern Illinois with 14 points.

The Leathernecks are in seventh place in the OVC standings, a game behind Morehead State heading into Saturday’s regular-season finale at home against SIU-Edwardsville.

“With the conference tournament coming next week, we needed to get some momentum, and this is the first step,” Brownfield said.

Photo: Western Illinois guard Raegan McCowan shoots over the Eastern Illinois defense in the second half of Thursday’s win. (Photo courtesy of WIU Athletic Communications)