Southern Illinois University
4-8, 0-4MVC
Creighton
10-4, 3-2MVC
Women's Basketball Drops Fifth Straight
01/16/2003 | 12:00:00 | Women's Basketball
Jan. 16, 2003
Omaha, Neb. - Creighton (10-4, 3-2) scored 33 points off 29 turnovers en route to posting a 69-54 win over Southern Illinois (4-8, 0-4) earlier tonight at Omaha Civic Auditorium.
The win marked Creighton's fifth straight and 11th in its last 12 meetings against SIU.
Creighton applied a tenacious full-court press which forced SIU into four turnovers in the opening 2:30 of the first half. The Bluejays, in turn, converted each Saluki miscue into points, and as a result, built a 11-0 lead, capped off by a Dayna Finch three-pointer with 17:30 left to play.
SIU, however, weathered the storm and answered with a 13-2 run ignited by Hillary Phillips. Phillips, who scored eight points, including six from behind the three-point arc, stole the ball and dribbled the length of the floor to tie the game (13-13) on an uncontested layup with 12:13 remaining.
Following the SIU run, the Salukis would go the next 5:01 without a basket, as Creighton put together a 12-0 run to take a 25-13 lead on a pair of Teresa Wessling free throws (8:00).
After a Wendy Goodman layup cut the Bluejay lead to 29-21 (5:15), Creighton used a 10-3 run to take a 39-24 lead at the break. Christy Neneman scored four points to fuel the rally, which ended on her own jumper with 19.6 seconds left.
Despite cashing in 26 points on 17 Saluki turnovers, Creighton also dominated the offensive glass, where it out-rebounded SIU, 13-5. The Bluejays converted their 13 offensive boards into 11 second chance points, as the Dawgs came up empty in that category. Creighton also hit 11-of-12 at the free throw line, outweighing SIU's 4-of-5 mark.
SIU continued to have problems holding onto the ball in the second half. After turning the ball over five more times, Creighton used a 12-5 run to expand its lead to 51-29 with 13:00 left to play.
Still not finished, the Bluejays would build their biggest lead of the game to 63-37 (7:40), before closing out the 69-54 win.
All but three Bluejays scored, as Neneman led Creighton with 12 points. Jenny Burns followed with 11 and Laura Spanheimer added 10 to round out the Jays' balanced attack.
Despite being held scoreless in the second half, Phillips managed to lead all Saluki scorers with 12 points. She shot 4-of-7 from the field and 2-of-4 from the free throw line. Molly McDowell followed close behind with 10 points.
Creighton out-rebounded SIU 44-36, including a 21-7 advantage on offensive boards. The Bluejays also held the Dawgs scoreless at 20-0 on second chance points.
SIU will play at Drake on Saturday, Jan. 18. Tip off is set for 2:05 p.m.
