Southern Illinoise University Athletics
Southern Illinois University
Basketball Travelers (Exh.)
SIU Women's Basketball Edges Holland
11/07/2001 | 12:00:00 | Women's Basketball
Nov. 7, 2001
Carbondale, Ill. - Molly McDowell scored 23 points, while Geshla Woodard and Holly Teague each pitched in 18 to lead Southern Illinois University to a 75-71 win over Holland Wednesday night in an exhibition game at SIU Arena.
McDowell shot a near-perfect 13-of-14 from the free throw line to go along with 4-of-8 from the field to lead all Saluki scorers.
The Salukis jumped out to a 12-4 lead sparked by six consecutive free throws by McDowell in the opening 5:00 of the first half. Following a 30-second timeout, Holland came alive and outscored SIU 20-10 to take its first lead of the game (24-22) on a Ingeborg Wijbrands jumper with 6:48 remaining.
Trailing 24-26 with 6:26 to play, Jodi Heiden then netted six straight free throws to ignite a 8-0 rally which put the Dawgs ahead 32-26 at the 3:29 mark before Wijbrands would answer with four freebees of her own. Wijbrands' four points added to a 9-2 route as Holland took a 35-34 lead at the break.
Despite shooting just 7-of-22 (.318) from the field in the first half which saw SIU turn the ball over 16 times, the Salukis regrouped and managed to connect on an impressive 15-of-27 field goals for 55 percent.
Tied 50-50 with 13:36 to play, Southern Illinois went on a 16-0 run to build its biggest lead of the game at 66-50 (8:14). McDowell and Teague both had five points, while Woodard pitched in six to fuel the spurt which held Holland scoreless for 5:22. From that point on, Holland would not lead again, but made things interesting down the stretch with a 10-1 run in the final 4:07 as the game ended 75-71 in favor of the Salukis.
Teague capped off her preseason debut shooting 5-of-13 from the field and 8-of-10 from the free throw line, while Woodard posted a stellar 9-of-15 performance from the floor to round out SIU's leading trio.
SIU will remain at home to close out its exhibition schedule against Goldstar (2:05 p.m.) on Sunday, Nov. 11. Following Sunday's matchup, the Salukis will then open their 2001-02 season on Friday, Nov. 16 when the Salukis travel to Lincoln, Neb., to take on Nebraska at 7 p.m.
From the Locker Room:
Opp on Recovery - "It's nice to be back. I felt pretty good throughout the whole game and maybe at the end of the game I felt it a little bit. I don't know if that was more a product of what we were doing on the floor or just being tired, but it feels great to be back."
Opp on Team's Performance -"That's what exhibition games are all about. Kids come out and their nervous because it's their first opportunity to play. We had a decent crowd here tonight and I was pleased with the fan turnout. And, I honestly think that the team was fairly nervous and the first half was indicative of that. Sixteen turnovers, you are not going to win a whole lot of ball games with that in the first half, but I think they came back well and played very well together in the second half. And at times, we regressed back to the first half, but that's what exhibition games are for."
Opp on Woodard-"Geshla definitely got both the team and staff vote for player of the game. That's the best game Geshla Woodard has played since she's been at SIU and I hope you all can key on that. Geshla tends to get nervous in games and we try to do as much as possible and tell her to relax and if she makes a mistake don't worry about it. Anytime Geshla Woodard can step on the floor and have two turnovers 18 points and seven boards, that is a great game for a senior to play in an opening game.
