Southern Illinois University
7-15, 3-10MVC
Creighton
16-8, 11-2MVC
Women's Basketball drops game at Creighton, 66-53
02/14/2009 | 12:00:00 | Women's Basketball
Feb. 14, 2009
By Shalae Patrick
www.siusalukis.com
OMAHA, Neb. - The Southern Illinois (7-15, 3-10) women's basketball team couldn't overcome a slow offensive start, falling on the road at Creighton (16-8, 11-2), 66-53, in Missouri Valley Conference play at the Omaha Civic Auditorium Saturday afternoon.
It was a tale of two halves, the Salukis out-scored by twenty in the first half, only to come out of the locker room the second half with a 31-to-24 offensive advantage.
"Creighton is an excellent team and very hard to guard," Saluki head coach Dana Eikenberg said. "I like what I saw in the second half. Our underclassmen fought hard."
CU jumped out to quick 10-2 lead including two threes in the first four minutes of the contest.
The Salukis pulled within four, 12-8, on a 3-pointer by Olivia Lett at 14:08 before the Bluejays started a 16-0 run, to go up 20, 28-8.
SIU was held scoreless for eight minutes, ending the drought on a Karlee Myers layup at the six-minute mark. The Salukis were 0-for-10 from the field, recording seven of their 12 first-half turnovers during the drought.
Creighton took a comfortable 42-22 lead into the locker room at the break, committing just three turnovers in the first half, out-rebounding SIU 24-to-16, Southern with just two on the offensive glass.
The Salukis started the second half hungry, posting an 8-to-2 run fueled by 3-pointers from Kaci Bailey and Alex Hart to pull within 14, 44-30.
SIU pulled within 12, 49-37, after a Lett three and layup by Bailey, but couldn't overcome the first half drought.
"I thought our freshmen did a nice job," Eikenberg added. "They could have thrown in the towel. Kaci Bailey led the team well and Alex Hart did the best job she could do on the defensive end on a very good Creighton team."
For just the second time this season the Saluki bench out-scored the opponents bench, 19-10, led by 10 points and six rebounds for Lett. Adrianne Griffith recorded four points and a career-best 10 boards, while Latoya Hambrick came up big off the bench with three points, four rebounds and a block in a career-best 19 minutes.
"We didn't have any post defense to begin the game, but I thought Griffith and Hambrick came off the bench and did a nice job the second half," Eikenberg said.
Southern recorded the most 3-pointers in a game this season (9) led by Bailey who was a perfect 4-for-4 from beyond the arc. The senior led the Salukis in scoring with 14, 5-of-7 from the field. Hart added three 3-pointers, finishing with 11 points.
The Bluejays picked up their 11th-straight victory in league play, the longest streak in CU program history.
The Salukis return to action Thursday when they host Illinois State for a 12:05 p.m. tip-off, SIU's annual Field Trip Day for the local elementary schools.
