Southern Illinois University
Saint Louis
Women's Basketball Squeaks by Saint Louis, 57-53
11/19/2001 | 12:00:00 | Women's Basketball
Nov. 19, 2001
Carbondale, Ill. - Senior Holly Teague hit four free throws in the last :31 of the game to give Southern Illinois University a 57-53 win over Saint Louis (0-2) Monday night at SIU Arena.
Teague's four freebees added to a career-high 17 points as the Salukis snapped a three-game losing streak against the Billikens. The win also marked SIU's first over SLU since 1987.
Southern Illinois jumped out to a 1-0 lead when Molly McDowell was fouled after SIU took the opening tip just four seconds into the game. Following the McDowell free throw, SIU would lead two more times at both the 18:34 (3-2) and 17:05 (5-4) marks before Saint Louis would lead for the rest of the first half.
Trailing 5-4, the Billikens built a 8-0 run which was capped off by a Star Jackson jumper with 13:29 remaining. Up seven (12-5), SLU then built its biggest lead of the game at 26-16 when Jana Haywood connected on a jumper with 4:46 left. The Salukis then answered with a 8-2 run to narrow the margin to 28-24 on a Jodi Heiden jumper (1:41) before Saint Louis scored the final two points of the stanza to take a 30-24 lead at the break.
Both teams were shaky in the first half which saw SIU turn the ball over nearly one time per minute. The Salukis' 18 miscues added to the Billikens 11 for a total of 29 turnovers. There was also a spurt of 2:16 in which neither team scored a basket.
After playing man-to-man in the opening stanza, SIU switched to a zone defense in the second half and stymied the Billikens who shot just .296 (8-of-27) from the field. Trailing for the first 5:42, Southern Illinois took a 36-35 lead on a pair of McDowell free throws with 14:18 remaining. Four ties and four lead changes later, SIU found itself up by one point, 53-52 when McDowell sunk another two free throws with 1:16 to go.
Following McDowell's free throws, Geshla Woodard then fouled, sending SLU's Christan Shelton to the line who missed her first shot allowing the Salukis to maintain their one-point advantage. Shelton then missed her second free throw as well, but a lane violation by Woodard gave her another try. This time, Shelton connected to tie the game at 53-53 with 1:04 left to play.
Thirty-three seconds later, Teague split a pair of free throws which gave the Salukis the lead again, this time 54-53 (:31). Saint Louis then missed three shots down the stretch as Teague would net three more free throws to seal the 57-53 win.
For the game, Teague shot 3-of-9 from the field and 10-of-14 from the free throw line en route to her career best. Woodard, who fouled out in the team's season opener at Nebraska, also posted a career- high 15 points, while tying a career-best 10 rebounds for her first double-double of the year.
McDowell (11) and Heiden (10) then rounded out the Saluki offensive attack with double-digit performances. McDowell, who missed last week's game with a mild concussion, shot a near-perfect 9-of-10 from the free throw line despite knocking down just one field goal. Meanwhile, Heiden was 4-of-8 from the field and 2-of-2 from the line.
SIU, now 1-1 on the year, will return to action Saturday, Nov. 24, when the Salukis travel to Cape Girardeau, Mo., to take on Southeast Missouri State at 7 p.m.
Notes: All five starters played for the first 10:47 of the second half before SIU made its first substitution, The Salukis' zone defense in the second half held the Billikens to .296 shooting from the field after SLU shot 40 percent in the first half against a man-to-man, SIU turned the ball over 32 times in the game which marked the second game this season the Salukis have committed 30 or more turnovers, The Salukis out-rebounded the Billikens 44-36, which included a 32-25 advantage on the defensive end, Tiffany Crutcher made her first start of the season and played six minutes, SIU shot 26-of-32 from the free throw line compared to SLU's 8-of-14, Both teams made just one three-pointer-SIU was 1-of-6, SLU was 1-of-10.
