Southern Illinois University
1-2
Saint Louis
5-0
Women's Basketball falls to Saint Louis
11/21/2006 | 12:00:00 | Women's Basketball
Nov. 21, 2006
By Shalae Schulte
www.siusalukis.com
CARBONDALE, Ill. - The Southern Illinois women's basketball team shot nearly 53 percent from the field, out-rebounding Saint Louis 33 to 25, but couldn't overcome a season-high 18 turnovers, falling 80-73 to the Billikens in SIU Arena Tuesday night.
Saint Louis put three players in double-digits, including a game-high 27 from Theresa Lisch. Rachel Diener added 22, while Tyler Mcilwraith finished with 15 for the Billikens.
"They were a more aggressive team," Saluki head coach Dana Eikenberg said. "We offensively, were going east and west."
A see-saw game in the first half, a jumper by Carlai Moore at the buzzer put the Salukis up 40-39 at the half.
The Billikens opened the second half with a 17 to 7 run, up 56-47 with 14 minutes left to play.
The Salukis came within three, 67-64, on a 3-pointer by Kaci Bailey at 5:18, but that's as close as SLU would let SIU get. A quick 3-pointer and two-point jumper helped the Billikens pull safely away.
Moore led the Salukis with 16 points, adding a game-high seven boards and two assists. Jayme Sweere added 14 points, two of four from the 3-point line.
For the second-straight game, the SIU bench outscored its opponents, this time 22 to six, including eight from Erica Smith, adding three boards, a career-high six assists and two blocks. Gentry Dietz added seven points, Dana Olsen, four.
"We had a complete breakdown on following the defensive game plan," Eikenberg said. "We forget personal strengths, and then we fail to come out of the locker room with the defensive changes that were addressed. There was no clear leader on the floor that was able to re-group after timeouts or halftime. We're not going outscore anybody. They're great shooters. We definitely didn't stick to the things that we talked about."
The Salukis hit the road for the first trip of the season to San Francisco, Calif. for the Odwallo Classic, Nov. 24-25. SIU will tip-off Friday at 9 p.m., CT, against host San Francisco. Second round action will conclude Saturday with the Salukis facing Delaware or Kentucky.
