Women's Basketball beats Weber State, 55-48
11/19/2005 | 12:00:00 | Women's Basketball
Nov. 19, 2005
By Jeff Honza
www.SIUSalukis.com
CARBONDALE, Ill. - Southern Illlinois (1-0) won its first season-opener in four years when it beat Weber State (0-1), 55-48, earlier tonight at SIU Arena.
WSU ranked 13th in the nation in three-point percentage a year ago, but a suffocating Saluki defense pinned the Wildcats to only 2-of-16 (.125) from behind the arc.
"I thought we hung tough and I'm happy for our kids," said head coach Dana Eikenberg. "You're not going to see Weber State struggle like it did from three-point range very often. They're a good shooting team and I'm proud of the way our defense played."
SIU built an early 15-7 lead in the first 10 minutes of the game, but WSU scored eight unanswered points to take a 23-22 lead with 2:31 left in the first half.
The Dawgs later shook off the surge and regained a 27-26 edge at the break.
After playing only two minutes in the first half due to early foul trouble, Amy Hayden, scored five quick points to help get the Dawgs a 33-26 lead just over three minutes into the second half.
A native of Ft. Wayne, Ind., Hayden hit two key jump shots and a pair of clutch three-pointers en route to 12 second half points.
The team's only senior, Hayden never experienced a season-opening win at SIU until tonight.
"It's an incredible feeling," said Hayden. "We played hard and it's nice to get a win before we hit the road next week."
Both of Hayden's three-pointers came in the last 10 minutes of the game. Her first gave the Salukis a seven-point advantage (43-36) at the 9:18 mark, while her second seemed to put the Wildcats away for good.
Hayden sunk a three from the left side to give SIU a 49-39 lead with 6:43 left, and after that, WSU didn't close the gap to anything less than seven points.
Katy Freeman's layup then gave SIU its biggest lead of the night (53-42) at the 3:00 mark, before the Salukis put their 55-48 win on ice.
Hayden shot 4-of-6 from the field, including 2-of-4 from downtown. She also hit 2-of-2 from the free throw line, as her dozen points tied sophomore point guard Erin Pauk for the team-lead.
Pauk, who had an impressive all-around Saluki debut, shot 4-of-10 from the floor, including a 2-of-3 showing from both behind the three-point arc and the foul line. She also grabbed five rebounds, dished out five assists and had three steals.
Carlai Moore also pitched in double figures with 10 points. WSU shot 43 percent (21-for-49) on the night, while SIU hit only 35 percent (21-of-60) of its field goals. The Wildcats also topped the Salukis on the glass, 36-35, despite the fact they were outrebounded, 15-9, on the offensive end.
Defensively, SIU forced 23 turnovers and had 13 steals.
SIU last tipped off a season with a win in 2000-01 when it defeated Illinois-Chicago, 57-40, in Chicago on Nov. 18.
The win also snapped SIU's eight-game losing streak dating back to Feb. 5, 2005.
SIU plays two games over Thanksgiving break next week. The Salukis travel to Murray State Tuesday, before returning home to host South Alabama on Friday.