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Women's Basketball reaches 20-win mark in final regular-season game
March 3, 2007 By Shalae Schulte
CARBONDALE, Ill. - The Southern Illinois women's basketball team, the 2006-07 Missouri Valley Conference Champions, picked up its eighth-straight victory with a 72-39 thrashing of Wichita State Saturday afternoon in SIU Arena. For senior Carlai Moore, it was her final regular-season home appearance. The Salukis, now 20-9 overall and 16-2 in MVC play, hit the 20-win plateau just the ninth time in program history and the first time since 1991-92 when SIU was 23-8. The 16 conference wins are the best since Southern went a perfect 18-0 in 1986-87. Despite shooting 25.7 percent in the first half, SIU took a 27-14 lead into the locker room at the half. Leading the entire contest, Southern dominated the boards (48-29), turning 17 offensive rebounds into 14 second-chance points. SIU came out in the second half to hit 17 of 27 shots (63 percent), leading by as many as 33. The Shockers were held under 40 points for the first time all season, the third team the Salukis have held to 40 points or below this year. Kiki Stephens led WSU with 13 points, the only Shocker in double-digits. Antoinette Wells, averaging a double-double in points and boards this year, was held to just six points and three rebounds. Southern's bench emerged, out-scoring the Shocker's bench, 39-12, Jasmine Gibson leading the way for the Salukis with 15 points. The sophomore forward also added four boards and two steals. Kaci Bailey chipped in a career-high 13 points, 4-of-4 from the field including a perfect 3-of-3 from beyond the arc. The sophomore guard recorded two assists and two steals in the win. Erin Pauk also came off the bench to add seven points and two assists for the Salukis. Debbie Burris added 10 points for Southern to go with four boards, four assists and two steals, while Jayme Sweere tied a career-best 10 boards, along with nine points, two assists and a block.
Moore recorded six points, five boards and three assists in her final regular-season home game. The senior sits in the top-20 in program history after just two-seasons at SIU with 874 points. Southern Illinois will take the number-one seed into the Missouri Valley Conference tournament this weekend. The Salukis will face the winner of the No. 8 and No. 9 seed game from Thursday night on Friday at 12:05 p.m. in Des Moines at the Drake Knapp Center. |
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