Southern Illinois University
11-8, 7-1MVC
Drake
5-12, 0-7MVC
Burris' three lifts women's basketball past Drake, 59-57
01/20/2007 | 12:00:00 | Women's Basketball
Jan. 20, 2007
By Shalae Schulte
www.siusalukis.com
CARBONDALE, Ill. - Debbie Burris hit a 3-pointer with 16 seconds left in regulation to give Southern Illinois (11-8, 7-1) its fifth-straight victory, a 59-57 battle over Drake (5-12, 0-7) Saturday afternoon in SIU Arena.
The streak marks the first time since 1995-96 that SIU won five-in-a-row.
"What a shot," Saluki head coach Dana Eikenberg said. "I thought what our team did tonight was hang in with a lot of heart and a lot of character. They believed in the huddle and knew what we had to do to get it done. I thought there was great composure both offensively and defensively in the last minute and a half of the game."
Drake led the entire first half, Southern evening the score twice before the Bulldogs took a five-point lead into the locker room at the break, 31-26.
The Bulldogs held their largest lead of the contest with just over 16 minutes to play, up by nine, 39-32.
The Salukis bounced back pulling within one twice before going ahead one, 47-46 on a Jayme Sweere layup at 6:46 for SIU's first lead of the game.
Drake quickly answered with a bucket by Lindsay Whorton, scoring two of her game-high 25 points, to take back the lead.
The game would be tied two more times, Drake pulling away each time before two Erica Smith free throws pulled Southern within one again, 57-56 with 55 seconds left to play.
Eikenberg called a timeout with 24 seconds left in the game before Burris hit the game-winner.
"That's a sideline-out of bounds play that we run all the time," Burris said of the shot. "It's play we know how to run and it went perfect."
Whorton missed a three for the Bulldogs to win it with three seconds left, as SIU came up with the rebound as time expired.
Burris finished with a team-high 15 points, shooting 6-of-10 from the field, including 3-of-4 from beyond the arc.
Dana Olsen chipped in 13 points to go along with four boards, two steals and an assist. Erica Smith pitched in 12 points, eight boards, two assists and a steal, while Jayme Sweere added eight points and five boards.
"I'm really proud of how we battled," Eikenberg said. "We had to battle a different adversity. In the past couple games we've seen defense deny opportunities that may have not been denied earlier in the year."
The game marks the first time this season the Salukis picked up a win after trailing at the half.
SIU surpassed its win total from a year ago, the most by a Saluki squad since Southern finished 14-14 in 1996-97.
SIU will take its 7-1 conference record to Evansville Saturday, Jan. 27 to take on the Purple Aces (12-6, 5-2 MVC). A 2 p.m. tip-off is scheduled.
