Southern Illinois University
0-3
Northern Illinois
3-1
Half-court heave sinks Women's Basketball
11/19/2010 | 12:00:00 | Women's Basketball
Nov. 19, 2010
By Bill Ford
SIUSalukis.com
CARBONDALE, Ill. — The Southern Illinois women's basketball team went from elation to heartbreak 1.8 ticks of the game clock as Northern Illinois guard Courtney Shelton's half-court buzzer-beater gave the Huskies a 46-45 win over the Salukis Friday night at SIU Arena.
Southern had taken its first lead of the second half on the prior possession when junior forward Charnise Mitchell sliced across the right side of the lane and banked in a running layup over NIU guard Marke Freeman. The SIU Arena crowd's jubilation was quickly quieted, however, as Shelton, who was a thorn in the Salukis side all night, launched a prayer from midcourt that hit nothing but net.
"We switched everything. We did everything right. It was just one of those shots," Mitchell said of the buzzer-beater. "Sometimes it happens — a lucky shot. They got it off, and they won."
The last play was a sour ending to an otherwise inspired performance for the Salukis. After struggling through an 0-2 start with forgettable shooting performances, Sothern's offense showed up to play against the Huskies.
Despite scoring just 45 points, the Salukis' field-goal percentage of 43.9 percent (18-for-41) including 44.4 percent (4-for-9) from beyond the arc, was a vast improvement over the sub-30 percent clips from its first two outings.
"This is the team I thought I'd be coaching all year. It's touch to sit here and not win," SIU head coach Missy Tiber said. "I can't say anything about how proud I am of how hard our kids played for 40 minutes."
Whereas the Salukis struggled to open their first two games, SIU came out strong against NIU, scoring the first four points of the game and holding a 10-7 lead five minutes in.
The Huskies responded with back-to-back 3-pointers by Shelton to take their first lead of the game, which they would hold until halftime. Despite losing the lead, Southern kept Northern in check, matching the Huskies basket-for-basket, and not allowing the lead to surpass five points.
"We have a better team chemistry going on right now," Mitchell said. "We worked hard in practice this week to prepare for this and we were ready."
Southern tied the game 27-27 out of halftime on a 3-pointer by Teri Oliver, but the Huskies quickly took back the lead with a 6-0 run. Again, Southern found a way to stay within striking distance throughout the remainder of the half thanks to a stingy defense. Southern forced the Huskies to a 30.8 percent shooting clip and held NIU's leading scorer, Freeman, to one point in the game.
"They shot 26 percent in the second half, "Tiber said. "You can't play much better than that. We had a great defensive game plan."
Freshman Center CiCi Shannon proved a catalyst for the SIU defense, blocking five shots in the game and pulling down 10 rebounds while playing against a seasoned veteran in NIU's Ebony Ellis.
"CiCI is progressing nicely," Tiber said. "You are talking about going up against a senior as a freshman … she had (Ellis) really frustrated tonight."
Sophomore guard Teri Oliver led the Salukis with 11 points while Sidney Goins chipped in seven and Mitchell and Shannon both added six. Shelton scored a game-high 21 on five-of-five shooting from 3-point range.
The Salukis are 0-3 heading into their first road game of the season Wednesday, Nov. 24 at Western Michigan.
"The players are taking it very hard. They are very much hurting. Any time you leave everything on the court like that, you are going to hurt naturally," Tiber said. I told them, 'Don't' let what happened at the end of this game deter us from where we are trying to get to. This was a huge step and we need to continue to build off of it.'"
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