Southern Illinois University
2-17, 0-8
Illinois State
13-6, 5-3
Women's Basketball suffers 82-44 loss to Illinois State
01/27/2011 | 12:00:00 | Women's Basketball
Jan. 27, 2011
By Bill Ford
SIUSalukis.com
CARBONDALE -- It was Youth Day in every sense Thursday at SIU Arena.
More than 1,100 local kids packed the stands as part of SIU's annual Youth Day promotion, and the Southern Illinois women's basketball team showed its youth in a 82-44 loss to Illinois State.
The Salukis (2-17, 0-8 MVC) stuck with the Redbirds (13-6, 5-3 MVC) through the opening minutes, but a veteran ISU squad spent the rest of the game showing why it is one of the perennial contenders in the Missouri Valley Conference.
"I hate to use the fact that sometimes four freshman are out there, but that's the truth when you are going against five seniors," said SIU coach Missy Tiber. "For the first 10 minutes of the game, I thought we competed pretty well. I can pinpoint the possession when the wheels fell off ... The bottom fell out on us."
SIU jumped out to a 5-2 lead in the game after two and-a-half minutes, but couldn't build on the strong start. ISU responded with a 9-0 run as the Salukis went eight minutes without scoring.
Despite having trouble scoring, the Saluki defense kept the game within a 14-7 advantage midway through the half. The Redbirds turned up the offense in the final 10 minutes, however, scoring 32 points during that span.
SIU couldn't find scoring opportunities throughout the first half as the Salukis continued their turnover struggles. Southern posted 18 of its 31 turnovers in the opening frame to trail 46-15 at the break. It marked the fourth consecutive game the Salukis have posted at least 30 turnovers.
"Now that we are getting later in the season, every coach in the league gets to watch every film, and they know our weakness. They are going to pressure us," Tiber said. "We had different press breakers set up to run. Sometimes they were effective, but by the time you get the ball past half court, sometimes you don't even have enough time to get into a set."
Southern nearly doubled its first half output with 29 points in the second half, but the effort proved too little, too late. SIU went on a 7-0 run five minutes into the half to pull within 54-25, but that is as close as the margin would get. The 38-point final margin was the Salukis' worst loss at SIU Arena this season.
Renee Reed led SIU with 13 points while sophomore Teri Oliver had 10 points playing in her first game back after a three-game suspension for violation of team rules.
Oliver led Southern's offense during the team's solid early stretch, but Tiber said Oliver often struggled trying to carry the offense.
"I think Teri was solid. She was having to do a little too much with the ball in her hands," Tiber said. "Teri is one kid that can score points. We don't have many scoring threats, and that is a big reasons why we score 40 points per game."
ISU had five players score in double figures led by Candace Sykes's 13 points. ISU managed 15 more shots and shot a better shooting percentage at 42.4 (28-for-66) percent compared with the Salukis' 31.4 percent (16-for-51).
CiCi Shannon and Nneka Nwani each had eight rebounds to lead SIU and Shannon added six blocks.
The Salukis look to bounce back against Indiana State Saturday at SIU Arena in what will be "Pack the House" night. Tipoff is scheduled for 2:05 p.m.
