Southern Illinoise University Athletics
Women's Basketball Seeks First League Win Saturday Against Evansville
01/04/2002 | 12:00:00 | Women's Basketball
Jan. 4, 2002
Currently on a four-game losing streak, Southern Illinois (4-7, 0-2) will look to get its first Missouri Valley Conference win tomorrow when the Salukis play host to Evansville (5-7, 0-2) at 12:05 p.m.
Both teams head into Saturday's matchup searching for their first league wins as each are coming off of losses to both Creighton and Drake. SIU, however, holds a 14-8 advantage in the overall series which dates back to 1985.
Suffering back-to-back losses to Creighton (71-63) and Drake (95-62) this past week, SIU has now fallen in five of its last seven contests.
Guards Molly McDowell and Holly Teague continue to lead the Salukis as both have ranked as the top two scorers all year long. McDowell, who remained in the starting lineup against Drake after a knee injury limited her to just 24 minutes against Creighton (12/30), averages a team best 14.8 points and 5.2 rebounds.
Teague then follows with 13.6 points and 4.3 rebounds, while senior Geshla Woodard rounds out the Dawgs' top three with 10.7 points per game.
Meanwhile, Evansville enters Saturday's game hoping to rebound from a 77-72 loss to Creighton this past Tuesday. The Purple Aces are led by Shyla McKibbon-Puelston who averages 13.5 points per game. Evansville, however, will be without McKibbon-Puelston this weekend after she suffered sprained knee ligaments against the Bluejays. Three others in Latasha Austin (12.9 ppg), Shinko Ono (10.8 ppg) and Tami Masterson (10.6 ppg) then round out the Aces foursome averaging double-digits.
Tomorrow's game marks the last of a three-game conference stand for SIU who has been at home since Dec. 30. Following their game with the Aces, the Salukis will then break for a week before taking to the road to face Southwest Missouri State (2:05 p.m.) on Saturday, Jan. 12 and Wichita State (7 p.m.) on Monday, Jan. 14.
Pre-Game Notes: After being projected to miss the entire 2001-02 campaign, junior forward Katie Berwanger will suit up and possibly see action for the first time this season Saturday against Evansville. Berwanger missed four and a half months after re-aggravating a ACL injury prior to the season, Freshman Danette Jones is coming off of back-to-back 10-point games against Creighton (12/30) and Drake (1/1), After beginning the season a perfect 3-0 at home, the Salukis now stand at 3-2 this year at SIU Arena, SIU last defeated Evansville by a score of 82-77 on March 3, 2001. The Saluki win snapped a six-game winning streak the Aces had against SIU.
