Southern Illinois University
Tennessee St
Women's Basketball Wins Second Straight
12/08/2001 | 12:00:00 | Women's Basketball
Dec. 8, 2001
Senior guard Holly Teague scored 21 points to lead Southern Illinois (4-3) to a 71-63 win over Tennessee State (1-4) Saturday afternoon in front of 652 fans at SIU Arena.
The win marked SIU's second straight, ending a five-game stretch against Ohio Valley Conference opponents.
Tennessee State never led in the game as SIU jumped out to a 14-4 lead with 13:06 to play in the first half. Teague and Jodi Heiden each pitched in four points apiece to ignite the rally which held the Tigers scoreless for 6:12.
Trailing by eight (14-6) after a LaRissa Thomas jumper broke TSU's ice cold drought, the Salukis led by 10 points on six occasions with the last being 38-28 with 20 seconds left before a jumper by Odessa Kelly brought the half to a 38-30 close in favor of SIU.
SIU came out firing in the second half, and as a result, went on a 12-1 run in the first 4:35 to build its biggest lead of the game at 50-31 with 15:30 remaining. Hillary Phillips buried back-to-back jumpers, while Teague added a pair of free throws to make up half of the Salukis' points during the spurt.
Although what seemed to appear as if the Salukis would blow the game wide open after leading by 19 on three occasions with the last being, 61-42 (11:12), the Tigers managed to claw their way back into the game with a 13-2 run which cut the SIU lead to 63-55 (4:36).
In the last 4:36, however, Tennessee State couldn't capitalize as the Tigers turned the ball over twice, fouled three times and missed a pair of free throws which led them to a scoreless slump which elapsed 2:26. While TSU couldn't produce offensively, SIU took advantage of the Tigers' late foul trouble and answered with 3-of-4 free throws in the last 27 seconds which helped the Salukis post the 71-63 win.
For the game, Teague shot 7-of-13 from the field and 6-of-9 from the free throw line to lead all Salukis. In addition, she pulled down five rebounds, dished out three assists and gathered three steals. Geshla Woodard also pitched in a double-double 14 points, 12 rebounds, while Molly McDowell added 10 points to round out the Dawgs' scoring attack.
Tennessee State was led by Thomas who scored 14 points, while Clarissa Cross and Kelly added 13 apiece.
The Salukis will break for 11 days before returning to action on Dec. 19-20 at the Navy Tournament in Annapolis, Md.
