Southern Illinois University
Wichita St
Women's Basketball Loses by 32, Drops Seventh Straight
01/14/2002 | 12:00:00 | Women's Basketball
Jan. 14, 2002
Wichita, Kan. - Jennifer Kaczka scored 18 points, while Michelle Pettigrew added 14 to lead Wichita State (8-7, 3-3) to a 85-53 win over Southern IIllinois (4-10, 0-5) Monday night at Levitt Arena.
The Wichita State win marked its sixth straight over the Salukis who haven't won at Levitt Arena in over five years. In addition, the loss marked SIU's seventh straight and eighth in its last 10 games.
Wichita State took an early 10-2 lead in the first half behind a pair of baskets by Kaczka and a three-pointer from Pettigrew just 2:53 into the game.
SIU then answered with a 18-12 run led by 13 points from Holly Teague to pull to within two, 22-20. Teague scored 10 consecutive points during the surge before capping off the run with a three-pointer at the 8:15 mark.
The Shockers, however, countered the Saluki attack with a 10-2 run to build a 32-22 advantage which marked its biggest lead of the half. Kaczka scored four points, while Pettigrew added five during the spurt.
Both teams then scored seven points apiece as a three-pointer by Brooke Atknson with one tick on the clock ended the opening frame, 39-29, in favor of the Shockers.
It was the Teague and Kaczka show in the first half as each scored 13 points apiece to lead their teams, respectively. SIU was also whistled for nine fouls as Geshla Woodard picked up three quick hacks.
SIU scored just four points in the first eight minutes of the second half as Wichita State went on a 25-4 run to take a 64-33 lead. Pettigrew hit two three-pointers to lead a streak of eight straight points at the beginning of the route which ended on a pair of Tisharria Huggins free throws with 12:00 left to play.
Ahead by 31, the Shockers added to their lead with another spurt, this time 13-4, which built their biggest lead of the game to 77-40 when Jessica Smith buried a three-pointer to cap off the rally with 6:44 remaining.
Although the Salukis outscored the Shockers by a count of 13-8 in the last five minutes of the game, Wichita State went on to post the commanding 85-53 win.
Kaczka shot 7-of-10 from the field and a perfect 4-of-4 from the free throw line to lead all Wichita State scorers. Pettigrew then followed with a hot 4-of-6 from three-point land, while Smith rounded out the Shockers' leading trio with 10 points.
Teague shot 6-of-14 from the field, including 3-of-7 from downtown to lead the Salukis with 16 points.
The Salukis shot just 6-of-29 (21 percent) from the field in the second half and were smothered into 24 turnovers which led to 15 Wichita State steals. For the game, SIU shot 17-of-60 from the floor which marked its third straight game that the Dawgs have shot between 24 and 28 percent.
SIU returns home to host Indiana State on Thursday, Jan. 17 at 7:05 p.m.
