Nov. 10, 2008

By Shalae Patrick
www.siusalukis.com

Box Score | Photo Gallery

CARBONDALE, Ill. - Erica Smith led the Southern Illinois women's basketball team with 21 points and 13 boards, a perfect 7-of-7 from the free throw line to push the Salukis past NAIA No. 9 Lambuth, 80-56, in the final game of exhibition play Monday night in SIU Arena.

In a messy game that saw both teams combine for 63 fouls, the Salukis dominated the boards 49-to-20, including 17 offensive rebounds they put back for 23 second-chance points.

"Thank goodness we have exhibition games," Saluki head coach Dana Eikenberg said. "Defensively, I thought we started out a bit better than we did (in our first exhibition game), but I thought we started a little more lackadaisical offensively. We just weren't in game pace. Lambuth did a good job jumping out"

The Lady Eagles kept pace for the first seven minutes of the game, tied at 10-all with 13:24 in the first half before the Salukis took advantage of six Lambuth turnovers in the next five and half minutes to go on a 13-0 run.

Three Lambuth players and two Southern Illinois players fouled out, the Lady Eagles sending the Salukis to the line 41 times. SIU took advantage of 30 trips to the free throw line.

Redshirt freshman Alex Hart and true freshman Latoya Hambrick had some shining moments in their Saluki debut. Hart finished with eight points and two boards in 14 minutes, while Hambrick added seven points and two rebounds in six.

Jasmine Gibson added 14 points, five boards, three assists, three steals and two blocks for SIU, the second-leading scorer for the Salukis.

Yolanda Jackson led the Lady Eagles with 19 points, while Jenee Webb came off the bench for 12 for Lambuth.