Southern Illinois University
3-17, 1-10MVC
Southwest Missouri State*
14-6, 9-2MVC
Women's Basketball Loses to MVC-Leading SMS, 89-63
02/05/2005 | 12:00:00 | Women's Basketball
Feb. 5, 2005
By Jeff Honza
www.SIUSalukis.com
CARBONDALE, Ill. - League-leading Southwest Missouri State (14-6, 9-2) used a 23-5 run over the last 6:35 of the game to ice a 89-63 win over Southern Illinois (3-17, 1-10) earlier today in Missouri Valley Conference action at SIU Arena.
SMS has certainly had an interesting week.
After winning seven games in a row, it suffered a 63-61 loss on a buzzer-beating three-pointer at Evansville Thursday, which put the Lady Bears in second-place.
Then, Indiana State knocked off Creighton Friday, and SMS moved into a two-way tie with the Jays.
So, needless to say, the Lady Bears were ready to play.
And, so was SIU for that matter, who entered the afternoon fresh off its first conference win over Wichita State (2/3).
SIU trailed, 43-29, at the half, but came out fighting for the first 13:13 of the game's final 20 minutes.
Moments after a Nicole Lehman layup pushed SMS' lead to 64-46 at the 10:14 mark, SIU went on a 12-2 run, with the help of six points from Daphney Desamours. Desamours' third basket during the spurt, sliced the Lady Bears' lead to 66-58 with 6:35 left.
Despite the sudden ambush, SMS answered with three huge baskets off the bench from Tahnee Balerio.
A freshman, Balerio calmly drained a three-pointer (6:18) to bump SMS' lead back to double-digits (69-58).
She then followed the big trey with back-to-back jumpers to polish off a streak of seven consecutive points that gave the Lady Bears a 73-58 advantage (5:24).
Balerio's seven points were the start of what ended up being a 23-5 run that simply took the Salukis by storm.
Offensively, SIU struggled to five turnovers and shot 1-of-6 from the field in the final 6:35 span. The Salukis' only points of the run came in the last two minutes of the game on three free throws by Danette Jones ( 1:57) and a layup by Wendy Goodman (:13).
SIU and SMS exchanged baskets en route to four ties to start the first half. The Salukis also trailed by one point on several occasions, before SMS used a 13-6 jaunt over the last five minutes to take it 14-point halftime lead.
SMS was led by Lehman's 21 points.
The Valley's leading scorer, Jenni Lingor, followed with 18 points, while Kari Koch added 12.
The Lady Bears, who top the league in both field goal and three-point field goal percentage, shot a boiling 55.6 percent (35-of-63) from the floor on the day. SMS also knocked down nine three-pointers.
Turnover wise, SMS only committed nine to SIU's 16. The Lady Bears also controlled the glass, where they held a 32-28 advantage.
SIU was led by Jones' 22 points. A native of Salem, Ill., Jones finished as the Dawgs' top scorer for her fourth game in a row. She has also registered 21 or more points in three of her last four outings.
Jones shot 7-of-12 from the field and 5-of-7 from three-point range.
Desamours and Elyse Morris also pitched in double figures with 12 apiece. For Morris, her double-digit performance marked her third in four games.
SIU hits the road to face Northern Iowa on Feb. 10 at 7:05 p.m.
