Southern Illinois University
3-5
Chicago State
4-5
Gibson leads Women's Basketball past Chicago State, 70-49
12/17/2007 | 12:00:00 | Women's Basketball
Dec. 17, 2007
By Shalae Patrick
www.siusalukis.com
CARBONDALE, Ill. - The Southern Illinois women's basketball team (3-5) dominated the boards, led by a career-high 31 points from Jasmine Gibson, to pick up its second-straight victory, 70-49, over Chicago State (4-5) Monday night in SIU Arena.
"I thought it was a good team game," Saluki head coach Dana Eikenberg said. "We've been really emphasizing the start to finish this week in practice."
The score was tied three times in the first nine minutes of the game, the last time at 11-11 before Gibson went on a run to score eight of her 19-first half points to put Southern up 19-11.
Southern took a 17-point lead into the locker room at the half, 40-23.
Chicago State would open the second half on a 12 to 4 run to come within nine points, 44-35, but that's as close as the Cougars would get as Gibson and Erica Smith would combine for three buckets to go back up 16.
Southern would lead by as many as 21 points, putting four players in double -digits. Smith chipped in 16 to go with nine boards, while Sweere pitched in a double-double with 11 boards and 11 points. Ellen Young came off the bench to put up 10, adding a career-best six boards, five off the offensive glass.
The Salukis used a season-best 16 offensive boards to put back 17 second-chance points, out-rebounding the Cougars, 46 to 25 overall.
"We had a challenge," Eikenberg said of her team on the boards. "We really needed to see Jasmine and Jayme back on the boards. I thought Ellen Young did a terrific job off the bench. If we can get that kind of emphasis from our perimeter, from a small team, I definitely agree that we're making strides with what we're doing."
The Saluki defense, giving up 69.7 points per game so far this season to rank eighth in the Missouri Valley Conference, looked much like the defensive team that was first in the league a year ago, holding a team under 50 points for the first time this season.
The Cougars put two players in double-digits, including their biggest threat, Jasmin Dixon, who would finish with 22 points to lead her team.
"Defensively I thought we did a good job," Eikenberg added. "We knew we would have our hands full with Dixon. She's just a talented player, but I thought Erika did a nice job of being disciplined. She didn't reach in and didn't have any silly fouls."
Gibson became the first Saluki to hit the 30-point plateau in nearly two years. Former Saluki Carlai Moore matched Gibson at Illinoia State Dec. 30, 2005.
The Salukis take to the road for their final contest before the holiday break at Tennessee Tech Friday at 7 p.m. in Cookeville, Tenn. December 29, the team returns home to host Wisconsin-Green Bay, the final regular-season game before starting Missouri Valley Conference play Jan. 3 against Illinois State.
