Southern Illinois University
Drake
Abramowski has Career Night as SIU Falls to Drake
03/20/2001 | 12:00:00 | Women's Basketball
February 15, 2001
Senior Kristine Abramowski scored a career-high 21 points to lead Southern Illinois University Carbondale as the Salukis fell to Drake University by a score of 68-66 Thursday in a barn burner at SIU Arena.
Abramowski's 21 points surpassed her previous career mark of 20 points which came at Illinois State on January 4, 1999.
In a game which saw 12 lead changes and eight ties, SIU led by as many as five points, 24-19, on a jumper by Terica Hathaway with 4:57 left in the first half. Drake then battled back as Ja'Nae Mosley drained a three-pointer to pull to within one, 26-25, at the break.
Leading by as many as five once again in the second half after a foul shot by Molly McDowell gave SIU a 36-31 lead with 16:15 remaining, both teams battled back-and-forth to a 49-49 tie with 8:13 left to play. Although never leading again for the rest of the game and trailing 66-59 with 1:08 to play, the Salukis pulled to within two (68-66) on a three-pointer by Abramowski with 11 seconds left. On the following inbounds pass, Drake then threw the ball in, but Hathaway forced a jump ball to give the ball back to the Salukis underneath their own basket with 10 seconds left. Following its immediate 30 second timeout, SIU then threw the ball into Abramowski who missed on two consecutive tries, before Tiffany Crutcher gave the Salukis a third, but missed at the buzzer as the game came to an exciting 68-66 close.
Abramowski shot 10-of-18 from the field and 1-of-1 from three-point land to lead four Salukis who posted double figures. Hathaway followed with 15 points while Crutcher added 12 and McDowell chipped in 10 despite playing with a hurt shoulder. In addition, the Salukis out-rebounded the Bulldogs 45-37 while turning the ball over just 13 times.
Southern Illinois, now 5-18, 2-12 on the season, will return to action on Saturday, Feb. 17 at 2:05 p.m., when the Salukis play host to Creighton.
