Southern Illinois University
2-9, 0-2MVC
Drake*
6-5, 1-1MVC
Women's Basketball Loses to Drake, 70-49
01/02/2005 | 12:00:00 | Women's Basketball
Jan. 2, 2005
By Jeff Honza
www.SIUSalukis.com
CARBONDALE, Ill. - Drake (6-5, 1-1) used a tenacious defense to force 23 turnovers, and outmuscled Southern Illinois (2-9, 0-2), 41-23, on the boards in a 70-49 win earlier tonight in Missouri Valley Conference action at SIU Arena.
The Bulldogs also had four players register double figures led by Jill Martin's double-double of 18 points and 12 rebounds.
The win marked DU's 18th straight against SIU, as the Salukis haven't beaten the Bulldogs since Feb. 1, 1996.
Like SIU, DU played the game with eight players, and those eight Bulldogs simply outhustled the Dawgs. Namely, on the defensive end of the floor, where its aggressive man-to-man defense and full court press created all sorts of havoc.
The Bulldogs forced nine Saluki turnovers in the game's opening 16 minutes, but Daphney Desamours scored 14 of SIU's first19 points to keep the Dawgs within striking distance.
SIU fell behind 6-0, but quickly tied the game courtesy of six points from Desamours.
Shortly after Dohrmann and Danette Jones traded three-pointers to bring the game to a 9-9 tie at the 13:39 mark, the Bulldogs took advantage of four SIU turnovers in a quick 2:24 to build a 12-2 run.
Four Bulldogs, including Dohrmann, Brandy Dahir, Sayavongchanh and Martin contributed to the attack that gave the Bulldogs a 21-11 lead with 10:14 remaining.
SIU battled back from the ambush to cut DU's lead to nine on two occasions in the last four minutes of the half, but the Bulldogs responded with baskets of their own to keep the double-digit lead.
An Elyse Morris jumper sliced DU's lead to 30-21 with 3:33 left, but Martin answered with a bucket on the Bulldogs' next possession.
Then, Desamours hit a jumper with 1:54 to narrow the margin to 32-23, but Dohrmann countered with a three-pointer (:30) to give DU a 35-23 lead at the break.
Desamours scored all but seven of SIU's points in the first half. She shot a blistering 8-of-9 from the field en route to 16 points.
DU kept pounding away at SIU defensively, where its blanketing full court press merely took matters into its own hands.
The Bulldogs flustered the Salukis into four turnovers in the first three and a half minutes of the second half, and DU rewarded the impressive effort with a 9-0 jaunt to put the game out of reach.
Martin accounted for four points during the surge to help up the Bulldogs lead to 44-23 at the 17:45 mark.
That quick run was only the start of what ended up being a long 20 minutes for the Salukis, who trailed by as many as 27 points (68-41) before taking the 70-49 loss.
Today's game marked the seventh this season that SIU has lost by 16 or more points. The Dawgs are 1-7 in games decided by 16 or more points.
Desamours, who was held to under 10 points two days ago against Creighton (12/31), finished with a career-high 25 points on 11-of-17 field goals and 3-of-6 free throws. She also grabbed five rebounds.
The only other Saluki closest to Desamours in the scoring column was Amy Hayden, who followed with nine points thanks to three treys.
SIU shot 7-of-12 free throws in the second half after not making a single trip to the foul line in the first.
In addition to its solid defense, DU dominated the offensive glass, where it held a 15-2 advantage.
Martin shot 7-of-12 from the field and 4-of-6 from the free throw line. Dohrmann followed with 16 points, while Sayavongchanh (14) and Lindsay Whorton (10) rounded out DU's balanced scoring.
The Bulldogs also collected 14 steals off a season-high 23 Saluki turnovers.
SIU plays at Wichita State on Jan. 6 and Southwest Missouri State on Jan. 8.
