Women's Basketball Heads to Middle Tennessee State
11/22/2003 | 12:00:00 | Women's Basketball
Nov. 22, 2003
Middle Tennesse State Game Notes in PDF Format
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By Jeff Honza
www.SIUSalukis.com
CARBONDALE, Ill. - Southern Illinois (0-1) heads to Middle Tennessee State (1-0) for a non-conference matchup on Monday, Nov. 24. Tip off is set for 5:30 p.m., at the Murphy Center.
SIU and MTSU have only met three times with the Salukis trailing the overall series, 2-1. The Lady Raiders are one of four non-conference opponents from a year ago who return to this season's schedule. In 2002-03, the Lady Raiders defeated SIU, 87-63, on Jan. 28 in Carbondale.
The Salukis will look to bounce back from a 73-64 season-opening loss at Southeast Missouri State Friday. Junior Danette Jones tied a career-high 16 points to lead all Saluki scorers against the Otahkians in what was her first start in quite sometime. Prior to Friday, Jones hadn't been in the Saluki starting five since Jan. 28, when the Dawgs, ironically, played MTSU.
Meanwhile, the Lady Raiders also opened the season against a Ohio Valley Conference opponent. MTSU defeated Tennessee Tech, 65-52, Friday in Murfreesboro. 2003 First-team all-conference and Sun Belt Defensive Player of the Year Patrice Holmes picked up where she left off a year ago. A junior out of Bishopville, S.C., Holmes registered a double-double 25 points and 10 rebounds. Additionally, the Lady Raiders garnered one vote in the Nov. 4 USA Today/ESPN/WBCA Division I Top 25 Coaches' Poll.
SIU will look to snap a streak of five consecutive losses dating back to the end of last season. Beginning with Bradley on Feb. 27, the Salukis closed out the 2002-03 campaign with four straight losses and fell to SEMO to begin this year.