Southern Illinois University
Creighton
Women's Basketball Drops Third Straight
12/30/2001 | 12:00:00 | Women's Basketball
Dec. 30, 2001
Carbondale, Ill. - Creighton (6-4, 1-0) opened the second half with a 16-2 run in the first 5:19 of the stanza to rally past Southern Illinois (4-6, 0-1) by a score of 71-63 Sunday in both teams' Missouri Valley Conference opener at SIU Arena.
The loss marked the third straight for SIU as the Salukis have now dropped four of their last six games.
Trailing 16-12 with 13:10 to play in the first half, Southern Illinois built a 9-2 run to take its first lead of the game at 21-18 when Geshla Woodard knocked down a jumper with 9:20 left to play. Creighton, however, quicky tied the game at 21-21 when Jenny Burns scored on a layup 1:10 later.
Both teams then exchanged baskets on their ensuing possessions to give the game its second tie at 23-23 before the Salukis would outscore the Jays by a count of 12-10 to take a 35-33 lead at the break.
A pair of Molly McDowell free throws just 11 seconds into the second half was all the offense SIU could muster in the opening minutes as Creighton took advantage of five missed shots and four turnovers to build a 16-2 route which put the Jays ahead 49-37 with 14:30 left to play. Laura Spanheimer scored 10 points, including a pair of three-pointers to fuel the stretch.
Down by 12 (49-37) Creighton continued to pound away at SIU, this time, igniting a 16-10 spurt to build its biggest lead of the game at 65-47 with 5:28 remaining.
Not giving up, SIU narrowed the margin to 67-54 compliments of a Woodard jumper with 2:37 left to play. Following Woodard's bucket, the Salukis suddenly caught fire from behind the three-point arc where they would drain three bombs in the last 1:07.
Megan Miller came off the bench to spark the late route with a three-pointer at the 1:07 mark before Hillary Phillips added to the cause with another trey which cut the lead to 69-60 with 39 seconds remaining. Laura Ferguson then calmly hit two free throws with 23 ticks left, before Danette Jones knocked down the Salukis' final three of the rally. Jones' shot with 10 seconds proved to be a little too late as Creighton went on to post the 71-63 win.
Creighton was led by Christy Neneman's 16 points and Laura Spanheimer's 14. Neneman shot 7-of-15 from the field and 2-of-2 from the free throw line, while Spanheimer hit 5-of-6 from the floor, including 2-of-3 three-pointers.
Woodard led all SIU scorers with 16 points on 7-of-14 from the field and 2-of-3 from the foul line. In addition, she pulled down eight rebounds. McDowell (12) and Holly Teague (11) also scored in double figures, while Jodi Heiden grabbed 12 rebounds to help the Dawgs offensively.
Southern Illinois will return to conference play Tuesday, Jan. 1, when the Salukis play host to this year' preseason favorite, Drake, at 2:05 p.m.
Notes: Molly McDowell suffered a knee injury which limited her to 24 minutes. The extent of the injury has not been determined at this time, Creighton's win marked its third straight over SIU as the Bluejays hold a 16-9 advantage in the overall series, Geshla Woodard's 16 points tied a career-high, Jodi Heiden's six points and 12 rebounds broke a streak of two consecutive double-doubles, SIU shot just 33 percent (9-of-27) in the second half after shooting 44 percent (12-of-27) in the first, McDowell's 12 points marked her ninth straight game scoring in double figures, SIU connected on a season-high 6-of-10 three-pointers led by McDowell's 2-of-3, The Salukis also hit 15-of-18 (.833) free throws compared to the Bluejays' 8-of-15 (.533).
