Women's Basketball hosts Illinois State Friday for Pink Out Game

CARBONDALE, Ill. -- The Southern Illinois women's basketball team hosts Illinois State Friday evening for the annual Pink Out game at SIU Arena. Tip-off is set for 6 p.m. and the game can be viewed on ESPN3 and can be heard locally on WVZA 105.1 FM.

Pink Out

Friday night's game will mark the annual Pink Out game at SIU Arena. Fans are encouraged to wear pink in support of breast cancer awareness. The first 150 fans in attendance will receive a pink Saluki t-shirt.

Series History

The Salukis and the Redbirds will meet for the 110th time in a rivalry that dates back to 1962. Illinois State leads the all-time series, 60-49. The Redbirds snapped a four-game losing streak to the Salukis with a 49-46 win at Redbird Arena on Jan. 14. SIU has won five of the last seven meetings with ISU.

Last Time They Met

Illinois State shot 50% from the floor in the second half and held SIU to 22.5% (7-of-31) shooting over the final 20 minutes of play to win their first MVC game under first-year head coach Kristen Gillespie. Southern turned the ball over just nine times and forced a season-high 24 turnovers but could not overcome its offensive woes. SIU shot 26.2% from the field, including 30% (4-of-13) from behind the arc.

Scouting the Redbirds

The Redbirds have won two-straight MVC games heading into their matchup with the Salukis, and are 10-12 overall. Illinois State holds opponents to a conference-leading 54.4 points per game, which is the sixth-best scoring defense in the nation, but are ninth in the league and 340th out of 348th in scoring offense at 53.4 points per game. The Redbirds also rank last in the league in field-goal percentage (35.6%). Illinois State's defense sets the tone though, as Hannah Green leads the league in blocks per game (1.93) while Paige Saylor leads the MVC in steals per game at 2.59/game. The Redbirds play 6-7 players with three players averaging over 36 minutes per game and 92.4% of ISU's total minutes coming from six players.

Current Salukis vs. the Redbirds

Kylie Giebelhausen is averaging 10.0 points, 4.4 rebounds, 2.2 assists and 1.5 blocks per game in seven career meetings against the Redbirds including 18 points in back-to-back wins over Illinois State a year ago. She has reached double figures in three of her seven career games against ISU. Nicole Martin nearly had a double-double against the Redbirds at home last season, as she had eight points and nine rebounds in a 57-48 win. She had 11 points and six boards ISU earlier this season.

RPI

The Missouri Valley Conference has four teams with top-175 RPIs, led by Drake at 86. Missouri State is second at 116, while SIU is third at 141 and UNI fourth at 153.

Nicole Martin named Player of the Week

Southern Illinois sophomore Nicole Martin averaged 23.0 points on 62.5% (20-for-32) shooting from the field in SIU's two road games to be named MVC Player of the Week for the first time in her career. She opened the weekend by pouring in 24 points on 11-of-15 shooting at Drake on Feb. 2, and followed with a game-high 22 points to go along with three blocks, three rebounds and two steals at Northern Iowa on Feb. 4. The back-to-back 20-plus point outputs marked the first time that she has reached 20-plus points in consecutive games in her career and she has now reached double figures in eight-straight games, and 16 times in 22 games this season.

Back-to-back 20 point games

Nicole Martin is the 67th different Saluki to score 20-plus points in a single game since 1982 and is one of only 29 in program history since '82 to record back-to-back 20-plus point games. Amy Rakers holds the longest streak of 20-plus point games in program history, as she rattled off 10-straight games with at least 20 points to lead the Salukis to the 1990 Gateway Conference title. Rakers is second to Petra Jackson for most 20-plus point games in a career, as Jackson finished with 20-plus points in 32 games to Rakers' 31 games. Rakers, however, holds the school record for most 30-plus point games at four, of which three came during the '89-'90 season including 32 points in SIU's 71-54 win over Illinois State in the Gateway Conference title game on March 10, 1990.

SIU one of five nationally

SIU is one of 24 teams in the nation to have played at least three overtime games this season. Creighton leads that category, having already played five overtime contests. Of the 24 teams nationally to have played in at least three overtime games, the Salukis are one of only five with an unblemished record. SIU, Albany, American University, Siena College and North Carolina are the only programs to have won at least three overtime games without recording a loss. Southern improved to 3-0 this season in overtime games and SIU's three overtime wins are it's most in a single season in program history.

Working Overtime

The Salukis defeated the Missouri State Lady Bears in overtime, 71-69 on Friday, Jan. 26. Southern improved to 3-0 this season in overtime games and SIU's three overtime wins are it's most in a single season in program history. Southern is 6-3 (.667) in overtime games under fifth-year head coach Cindy Stein and 26-18 (.590) all-time in overtime games since the 1974-75 season.

Disrupting passing lanes

The Salukis have recorded 10-plus steals in seven games this season. That's the most 10-plus steal games in a single season in the Cindy Stein era, and the most since the 2012-13 season when the Salukis posted eight games with 10-plus steals. The school record for most games with at least 10 steals is 20, set by the 1994-95 Salukis. Southern is 5-2 this season when snagging 10-plus steals and are 118-104 (.531) since 1988 when finishing with at least 10 steals.

Rank in the top-3

The Salukis rank in the top-3 of the Missouri Valley Conference in both steals and blocked shots, as Southern is currently second in blocks and third in steals. SIU has never finished in the top-5 of both categories in the same season since the NCAA began recording steals and blocks during the 1987-88 season. The Salukis have only finished in the top-five of the conference in steals four times in the past 30 years, most recently when they finished third in 2007-08. Southern has finished in the top-five of the league in blocks in three of Coach Stein's four full seasons and 17 times in the past 30 years.

Season-best on the boards

The Salukis snagged a season-high 52 rebounds in the win over the Lady Bears. It marked the most rebounds that they have grabbed since Southern recorded 54 in a win over Brescia on Nov. 26, 2016. The Salukis have won six-straight games when grabbing 50-plus rebounds, and are 7-2 under Stein when tallying 50-plus boards.

The only one

Kylie Giebelhausen is the only player in program history to record at least 1,000 points/500 rebounds/250 assists/100 steals/100 blocks. She is one of six Salukis to rank in the top-25 all-time for all five categories, as she's currently 3rd in blocks, 13th in assists, 14th in steals, 15th in points and 21st in rebounds. Giebelhausen joins Bridgett Bonds, Jayme Sweere, Angie Rougeau, Amy Rakers and Sue Faber as the only Salukis to rank in the top-25 all-time in all five statistical categories.

Sharing the load

Brittney Patrick scored a career-high 15 points in the win over Missouri State on Jan. 26 and led the Salukis in scoring for the first time in her career. She was the sixth different Saluki to lead the team in scoring this season, which are the most for SIU in a single-season since the 2013-14 season in which Southern had seven different players lead the team in scoring.

Leading the Valley

Brockmeyer leads all MVC freshmen in field goal percentage (52.2%), rebounds per game (7.2) and blocks per game (1.2) while she is second in points per game (10.4). The Raymond, Ill. native ranks 15th nationally amongst freshmen in rebounds and 21st nationally among freshmen in blocks per game.

Milestone win

Cindy Stein won the 350th game of her career with the win over Loyola on Jan. 19. Her 352 career wins are the most among active Missouri Valley Conference coaches.

Racking up weekly honors

The Salukis have now won Player of the Week twice this season and have won Newcomer of the Week four times this season. It marks the first time since the 2006-07 season that SIU has had multiple players earn Newcomer of the Week recognition during the same season.

Giebelhausen in double figures

Kylie Giebelhausen scored 14 points at Northern Iowa on Sunday, which marked the 11th time this season, and the 62nd time in her career, that she has reached double figures.

Hot Start

SIU has now scored 21 points in the first quarter of three games this season. SIU did so vs. UT Martin on Oct. 13, at Morehead State on Nov. 30 and then again at Drake on Feb. 2.

Five Scored in double figures

The Salukis had five players score in double figures at Drake on Feb. 2, which marked the first time that Southern has accomplished that since a Dec. 30, 2016 win over Loyola.

Silvey in double figures

Makenzie Silvey scored in double figures for the 12th time in her young career at Drake on Feb. 2. That is tied with Meredith Jackson for the seventh-most in a single-season by a freshman in program history.

Double-Doubles

Abby Brockmeyer has recorded four double-doubles this season, which is tied for the third-most double-doubles by a freshman in school history. She is tied with Alexus Patterson and Bridgett Bonds, who each tallied four during their respective freshman seasons.

Tied a freshman record

Abby Brockmeyer's career-high 27 points on 11-of-14 shooting at Evansville on Dec. 29 tied the program record for points by a freshmen in a single game. Brockmeyer tied Cartaesha Macklin's school record of 27 points, set during a 77-63 win over IUPUI on Dec. 8, 2011. It marks the most points by a Saluki freshman in a Missouri Valley Conference game, and the third time a Saluki freshman has scored 20-plus points in a Valley contest. It is the 14th time in program history that a freshmen has scored 20-plus points.

Climbing the Charts: Kylie Giebelhausen

• The East Peoria, Ill. native snagged six rebounds at Drake and is one of 23 Salukis with 500-plus career rebounds. Her 530 career rebounds are the good for 21st on SIU's all-time list, and she needs six rebounds to pass Kristie Abramowski for 20th.
• Giebelhausen's 1195 career points are the 15th-most in program history, and just five points shy of passing Teri Oliver for 14th all-time. Her 1195 career points are the the third-most in the MVC and ranks 160th among active NCAA DI student-athletes.
• Giebelhausen's 3828 career minutes are third to Rishonda Napier (4,138 career minutes) and Cartaesha Macklin (4088) for third all-time. After playing 39 minutes in each of SIU's past two games, Giebelhausen's career average is now 33.0 minutes per game, which is slightly ahead of Rishonda Napier's school record average of 32.8 minutes per game.

Giebelhausen's 230 career three-pointers are the third-most in school history, and are tied for 18th in Missouri Valley Conference history. Her next three-pointer will break a tie with UNI's Amber Sorenson.

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