Fayette, Mo. - The No. 15 Central Methodist women's basketball team saw all five starters reach double figures, as the Eagles cruised past Peru State, 79-67 Saturday afternoon inside Puckett Field House. 

With the victory, Central improves to 19-4 and 9-4 in Heart play, while the Bobcats fall to 8-13 and 3-9 in the conference. 

CMU's offense jumped out to a quick 25-9 first quarter lead before Peru State responded with 22 second quarter points. The Eagles would take a 39-31 lead into the locker room at halftime. 

Central tallied 27 points in the third, outscoring Peru by double digits. Despite the Bobcats trimming the deficit to as few as 12, the Eagles held on for a 79-67 victory. 

Daryna Bachkarova led CMU's offense with 16 points which included four three-point baskets. The junior also added four assists and three steals. 

Arleighshya McElroy tallied 15 points along with five rebounds, four steals, and two assists. Freshman forward Leah Johnson nearly recorded another double-double with 13 points and eight rebounds. Eternati Willock and Leianya Massenat rounded out the double-digit scorers with 12 and 10 points respectively. 

The Eagles assisted on 23 of 30 field goal attempts. Jaicia Canady led the way with six assists followed by Massenat with five. 

Peru State won the battle of the boards with 35 rebounds compared to 31 for Central. CMU forced 23 Bobcat turnovers on 18 steals. 

The Eagles will next travel to Atchison, Kan. to face Benedictine College Wednesday, Feb. 2 at 5:30 p.m. Both teams have identical conference records at 9-4 in the Heart. 

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