Southern Illinois University
5-14, 1-9MVC
Evansville
9-10, 3-7MVC
Women's Basketball Comes Back to Beat Evansville, 84-80
02/10/2003 | 12:00:00 | Women's Basketball
Feb. 10, 2003
Carbondale, Ill. - Dana Pinkston hit a three-pointer with 14.1 seconds left to help lift Southern Illinois (5-14, 1-9) to a thrilling 84-80 win over Evansville (9-10, 3-7) earlier tonight at SIU Arena. The win snapped an 11-game losing streak for the Salukis.
SIU made three 3-pointers, including a pair by Pinkston to build a 11-7 lead early in the first half. Pinkston heated up to hit back-to-back treys 2:12 into the game, before Danette Jones connected from long-range with 15:46 left to play.
After a Cammie Campbell three-pointer brought the Purple Aces to within two (15-13), both teams went without a basket for the next 4:30.
A steal and layup by Kirby then snapped UE's lengthy drought and tied the game at 15-15 with 10:29 remaining.
Kirby's bucket marked the beginning of a 14-6 run which saw the Purple Aces score on six straight possessions. Kirby, who also added a three-pointer, scored five points to spearhead the charge, giving UE a 29-21 lead at the 7:32 mark.
With a little under six minutes left, Kirby converted another layup off a Jenna Hayes steal to fuel a 7-0 spurt that pushed the Aces' lead to 43-26. A pair of Heidi Seltzer free throws ended the rout with 3:37 left.
After going scoreless for 3:23, Molly McDowell scored four of SIU's last five points to cut the UE lead to 44-31 at the break.
The Purple Aces shot a blistering 17-of-35 (.486) from the field, including 5-of-12 (.417) from behind the three-point arc. Kirby and Jamie Gray each scored 13 points in 17 minutes to pace all Purple Ace scorers.
Pinkston scored on both a jumper and three-pointer in just 37 seconds to open the second half.
Following Pinkston's burst, SIU found itself down by eight (44-36) with 19:23 remaining. A three-pointer each by Jennifer Carpenter (18:41) and Kirby (16:37), however, regained a 52-40 advantage for the Aces.
SIU kept battling and answered with a ferocious 14-2 run that tied the game at 54-54 with 11:48 remaining. Katie Berwanger and Hillary Phillips each scored five points, while Jodi Heiden added four, including the game-tying layup.
Five ties later, things would get interesting. A Berwanger offensive rebound and stickback gave SIU what appeared to be a commanding 80-71 lead with 2:23 left to play.
UE stormed back on a three-pointer by Kirby, a pair of buckets by Hayes and a jumper by Campbell to quickly give the game its sixth tie at 80-80 with just 21 ticks left.
Seven seconds later, Pinkston calmly sank her fifth three-pointer of the game to give the Salukis a 83-80 lead.
"It really wasn't set up," said Pinkston of her clutch shot. "I felt confident I could hit it and I just got lucky I guess. I hadn't been having much success driving so I figured it would be a higher percentage shot for me to try to make a three."
With 14 ticks left, the Purple Aces had one final chance to tie, but a Kirby miss (:03) fell short and McDowell grabbed the rebound. McDowell was then immediately fouled with one second and later split a pair of free throws to secure the 84-80 win.
SIU outscored UE 53-36 in the second half on 58 percent (19-of-33) from the field. Both the Salukis (9) and Purple Aces (12) also combined for 21 three-pointers. Kirby (5), Campbell (5) and Pinkston (6) each had five or more between the two squads.
Although Pinkston led all Saluki scorers with 22 points on 8-of-15 field goals and 6-of-9 three-pointers, Berwanger also came up huge in the win. Berwanger, who scored 13 points in the second half, finished with a double-double 19 points and 13 rebounds. She shot 9-of-15 from the field on the night.
Meanwhile, McDowell scored 16 and Phillips pitched in 12 to round out the Dawgs' balanced attack.
UE was led by Kirby's 24 points. Campbell followed with 17, Hayes added 15 and Gray chipped in 14 to cap off the Aces' four posting double-digits.
"It was a great win, and you could tell by looking at the stats that when we have four of our five starters scoring in double figures that's what we need to be successful," said an elated head coach Lori Opp. "We needed two or three people to step up and tonight they did that."
Due to UE's solid three-point shooting in the clutch, Opp gambled late in the game, and it paid off.
"They were draining three-pointers on us all night and that kind of concerned us," explained Opp. "That's why we switched from a 2-3 to a man there at the end. I was a little concerned that it might cost us the game because they still got some good looks, but they did miss some shots and we came up with the boards and we had some scramble plays."
SIU will remain at home to host Drake on Friday, Feb. 14. Tip off is set for 7:05 p.m.
