Southern Illinois University
3-17, 2-9MVC
Indiana State*
13-8, 7-5MVC
Women's Basketball Loses to Indiana State, 98-84
02/12/2004 | 12:00:00 | Women's Basketball
Feb. 12, 2004
By Jeff Honza
www.SIUSalukis.com
CARBONDALE, Ill.-- Celeste Hlebovy scored 20 points to lead five players in double figures, as Indiana State (13-8, 7-5) cruised to a 98-84 win over Southern Illinois (3-17, 2-9) earlier tonight in Missouri Valley Conference action at SIU Arena.
For ISU, the win marked its ninth straight over SIU and completed a two-game sweep of the Dawgs this season.
Daphney Desamours scored seven of SIU's first 16 points of the game to lift the Salukis to a four-point lead early on in the first half.
After a Desamours' jumper (12:41) made it 16-12 in favor of the Dawgs, ISU answered with a 10-0 run to steal back a 22-16 advantage with 9:15 remaining. Melanie Boeglin scored half of the Sycamores' points to fuel the spurt.
While ISU's offense gradually started to pull away, the Sycamore defense suddenly kicked into gear. One of the league's best defensive units, ISU ended up forcing 13 Saluki turnovers, including six in the final 5:37 of the first half.
After a Dana Pinkston three-pointer pulled the Salukis to within four (33-29) at the 5:37 mark, SIU's six miscues led to a 15-2 ISU jaunt that gave the Sycamores a commanding 48-31 lead at the break. The only offense SIU mustered during the attack was a pair of Danette Jones' free throws with 55 seconds left.
Things sure didn't get much easier for SIU in the second half, where it continued to have problems holding onto the ball.
Turning the ball over nine more times, the Salukis would trail by as many as 27 points after a Kristen Weddle jumper pushed ISU's lead to 76-49 with 11:07 left to play.
Despite the miscues, the Dawgs managed to outscore the Sycamores 53-50 in the second half, and even cut ISU's lead to 13 (94-81) on a Pinkston three-pointer with 55 seconds left, but the hefty halftime deficit came back to haunt the Salukis, as the Trees sealed the 98-84 win.
Hlebovy shot 7-of-9 from the field to go along with a perfect 6-of-6 from the free throw line to top the Sycamores. Erin Rhodes (17), Weddle (16), Boeglin (14) and Lisa Verhoff (13) rounded out ISU's balanced scoring attack.
Along with surpassing its league-leading 12.2 steals per game with 17 off 22 Saluki turnovers, ISU was nearly flawless at the free throw line, where it shot 19-of-20. The Sycamores also out-rebounded SIU by a count of 37-29 with a 19-12 advantage coming on the offensive end.
Desamours, who scored 15 points in the first half alone, led the Dawgs with a season-high 22 points off the bench. Desamours shot 9-of-12 from the field, including 2-of-3 from three-point range. She also made 2-of-4 free throws, grabbed two rebounds and dished out five assists.
Pinkston followed with 21 points to mark her fourth straight game scoring in double figures. Katie Berwanger also had a big night with 20 points and 11 rebounds for her team-leading fourth double-double this season.
SIU shot 62.5 percent (20-of-32) in the second half en route to a season-best .552 field goal percentage for the game. The Dawgs also made a season-high 11 (11-of-19) three-pointers for the second time this year.
The Salukis remain home to host third-place Illinois State on Saturday, Feb. 14 at 2:05 p.m.
