March 6, 2008

By Shalae Patrick
www.siusalukis.com

Box Score

NORMAL, Ill. - The Southern Illinois (9-18, 5-12) women's basketball team fought back from an eight-point deficit in the second half to take down second place Illinois State (22-6, 12-5) in the final weekend of Missouri Valley Conference play, 72-69, at Redbird Arena Thursday night.

The Salukis were down by eight, 56-48, with 7:52 left in the game before Jayme Sweere and Ellen Young put up back to back threes, followed by two straight jumpers from Katrina Swingler to tie the game at 58-all at the 5:43 mark.

The Redbirds would go up two more times before Southern would tie the game two more times, the last time at 67-67, with 1:17 left to play on an Erin Pauk 3-pointer.

Cortney Sales hit the front end of a 1-and-1 to give the Salukis their first lead of the second half, 68-67, with just under a minute to play.

Illinois State's Kristi Cirone put her team back on top after draining two free throws following a Jasmine Gibson foul with 39 seconds left in the game. A Sweere put back with 25 seconds left gave Southern the advantage one more time, while two Pauk free throws at the 10 second mark put the Salukis up three following a Cirone turnover.

Cirone went on to miss two threes with the Redbirds final possession of the game for the Saluki win.

SIU recorded just one turnover in the second half to ISU's seven. The Salukis also hit seven of 11 3-pointers for a season-high 53.8 percent on the night. They also shot 48.3 (29-of-60) from the field, the best showing in 15 games, snapping a five-game losing streak dating back to February 14.

The Salukis were led by Sweere who put up her second-straight 25-point game. The senior added seven boards, five assists, two steals and a block, while Young came off the bench for 17 points including a perfect 3-of-3 from beyond the arc.

Pauk was the third on the team with 10 points, including five in the last minute and 20 seconds of the game.

Nicolle Lewis led the Redbirds with 28 points, while Cirone pitched in 17, including ISU's final seven points of the game.

The Salukis wrap up the conference regular season at Indiana State Saturday for a 2:05 p.m. EST tip-off.