Southern Illinois University
4-58-10; MVC
Evansville
6-310-8; MVC
Women's Basketball loses to Evansville, 73-53
01/28/2006 | 12:00:00 | Women's Basketball
Jan. 28, 2006
By Jeff Honza
www.SIUSalukis.com
EVANSVILLE, Ind. - Southern Illinois (8-10, 4-5) matched both a season-high 22 turnovers and season-low 25 rebounds in a 73-53 loss to Evansville (10-8, 6-3) earlier today at Roberts Stadium.
The win marked UE's third-straight, as the Purple Aces have won eight in a row against SIU in Evansville.
Both teams entered the day fresh off a week's break and back-to-back wins against Creighton and Drake.
In the first half, UE stormed out to a 10-0 run and later led, 16-7, after forcing seven Saluki turnovers in the first eight and a half minutes of the game.
SIU also shot under 30 percent and didn't reach double-digits until the 8:09 mark when Carlai Moore's jumper narrowed the UE lead to 18-10.
Shortly after a media timeout, SIU turned up its full court defense and used a quick steal and layup by Elyse Morris to ignite a 12-4 run over the next 2:30. Morris also capped the surge with a jumper to tie the game at 22-22 with 5:12 remaining.
Both teams then battled to four more ties, before Courtney Felke came off the bench to drain a pair of big three-pointers in the last 1:49 and give UE a 38-31 lead at the break. SIU and UE went a combined 0-of-8 from downtown prior to Felke's treys.
SIU trailed, 44-43, with 13:21 left in the second half, before the Purple Aces outscored the Dawgs, 29-10, to put the 73-53 win on ice.
The majority of UE's offense in the second half came at the free throw line after the Purple Aces penetrated and drew several fouls to get there.
After going 8-of-9 at the stripe in the first half, UE hit 17-of-19 in the second to cap a 25-of-28 effort on the day.
Megan Liffick, who topped the Aces with 15 points, accounted for a perfect 11-of-11 of those freebees.
UE also scored 36 points in the paint, converted 22 second chance points and outscored SIU, 32-15, off the bench.
SIU, who shot under 40 percent (17-of-47) from the field, was outmuscled, 41-25, on the glass. The Salukis also turned the ball over 11 times in both halves.
Moore led the Salukis with 16 points, as SIU's 53 marked its third-lowest point total of the season. Morris followed with 10 points, marking her second double-digit outing in three games.
SIU, who closed out the first half of league play at 4-5, remains on the road to face Bradley (Feb. 2) and Northern Iowa (Feb. 4).
