Jan. 6, 2007

By Shalae Schulte
www.siusalukis.com

Box Score

CARBONDALE, Ill. - The Southern Illinois women's basketball team put four players in double-figures, shooting 65 percent from the field in the first half, while dominating the boards the entire game to overpower defending Missouri Valley Conference champion Indiana State, 86-69, Saturday afternoon at SIU Arena.

The Salukis, now 7-8 on the season and 3-1 in Missouri Valley Conference play, snapped a 13-game losing streak to the Sycamores (9-6, 2-2) dating back to 2000.

"This was a terrific comeback win," Saluki head coach Dana Eikenberg said. "Credit to our kids for in less than 24 hours turning around and really understanding what we gave away on Thursday. They paid attention to the game plan and just did a great job."

Coming off of a 12-point loss to Illinois State Thursday, Southern was poised to take control, opening the game with 10-2 run capped off by a Debbie Burris three.

The Salukis took their largest lead of the first half, 47-31, with 45 seconds left in the period on another jumper by Burris. The junior finished with 15 and a career-high eight boards, adding two assists, two blocks and two steals.

SIU finished with 47 points in the first half, the most scored in a half this season, taking an 11-point lead (47-36) into the locker room at halftime.

There was no let down in the second half for Southern as they burst out to a 53-36 lead on a jumper by Jayme Sweere with 18:44 left to play. The junior guard recorded six points, five boards, four assists and two steals.

Southern held their largest lead of the game, 20, twice. With at 3:53 in the second half, freshman Dana Olsen hit two free throws to put her team up 84-64. Olsen then turned around with a minute and half left to score two more of her game-high 21 points to charge ahead 86-66. The Sycamores hit a 3-pointer before time expired to bring the game to 17 (86-69).

Carlai Moore and Erica Smith scored 14 each, the other two Salukis in double-figures. Moore added four boards, two assists and a steal, while Smith recorded five rebounds, five assists, a block and two steals.

Jasmine Gibson grabbed a career-high 10 rebounds, just missing a double-double by one point, scoring nine.

Southern finished with a season-high 43 boards, out-rebounding Indiana State by 23 (20). That dominance was key, recording 15 of their 21 offensive boards in the second half.

"I'm hoping our confidence continues to grow," Eikenberg said. "We're still a team that is still in a learning phase. I don't want us to get too high or too low on the things we want to do. We know that each environment we step into is something new for us. We break streaks every place we go right now because Southern has not won. What's most important for us is each game is our practice preparation, and who we are."

SIU will return to the road, for the Bradley-Northern Iowa swing. The Salukis will face the Braves Thur. Jan. 11 at 7 p.m. before traveling to UNI Sat. Jan. 13 for a 7:35 p.m. tip-off.