Southern Illinois University
2-17, 0-8
Indiana State
13-6, 5-3
Indiana State slips past Women's Basketball 48-42
01/29/2011 | 12:00:00 | Women's Basketball
Jan. 29, 2011
By Bill Ford
SIUSalukis.com
CARBONDALE, Ill. -- The Southern Illinois women's basketball saw its best shot at its first Missouri Valley Conference win slip away in the final minutes of a 48-42 loss to Indiana State Saturday at SIU Arena.
Southern (2-18, 0-9 MVC) went into halftime with its biggest lead of the season at 26-14, but the Salukis couldn't get shots to fall in the second half, including during a critical stretch in the final five minutes.
"I'm just sick for those girls because I thought we really played our heart and soul out," said SIU coach Missy Tiber. "I was proud of our effort and what we did. Unfortunately, they made a few more shots than us."
Sophomore guard Teri Oliver scored the first eight points of the game to spark one of the team's best halves of the season. A Southern team that has struggled with presses through the start of Valley play was able to consistently navigate its way though the Sycamore defense.
"I saw us doing things that put you in a situation where you can compete," Tiber said. "We handled their press, basically with not much problem at all."
Another trend the Salukis' broke was its habit of falling off after the first 15 minutes of games. Despite having ISU (11-9, 5-4 MVC) fight back from a slow start to take an 11-10 lead at the 10:37 mark, the Salukis ended the half on a 16-4 run. SIU held the Sycamores to a 17.2 percent shooting clip in the first half and ISU's 14 halftime points were the least it has scored in a half this season.
"We couldn't do any better on the defensive end of the court," Tiber said. "We made them work for every single point they got today."
ISU coach Teri Moren said it was obvious SIU had a solid game plan to slow the Sycamore offense down.
"I thought Missy did a tremendous job of preparing her kids," Moren said. "They know we like to get out and push the ball up the floor. Missy and her staff prepared their kids to slow down the tempo and we played at that much of the game."
The second half saw both teams flip scripts, as the Sycamores' shots started falling while Southern's shots started to rim out. ISU started the half on an 8-0 run, all scored by center Shannon Thomas, to pull within 26-22 with 16 minutes remaining.
Southern responded with a layup by Nneka Nwani and a 3-pointer by Renee Reed to push the margin back to nine points, but the Salukis wouldn't score again for the next six minutes as the Sycamores posted an 11-0 run to take its first lead of the half at 33-31 with eight minutes left.
The two teams traded baskets over the next four minutes before Renee Reed finally hit a layup to give Southern back the lead at 39-38 with 4:15 remaining. The lead would mark the Salukis' last of the game as the Sycamores posted a 7-0 run, forcing SIU to foul in the final minute. ISU hit six of eight free throws down the stretch to seal the win.
SIU had several open looks during ISU's late game push, but nothing would fall. Southern finished the second half with a 14.7 percent shooting clip to mark its worst shooting half of the season.
"We got a lot of open looks, both layups and threes, that just rimmed out on us in the second half," Tiber said. "We were one shot away and we just didn't make it."
Despite the loss, Tiber said she was able to pull numerous positives out of the performance. The Salukis turned the ball over just 15 times, marking the first time in five games the team hasn't had at least 30.
Tiber called freshman point guard Brooke LeMar's outing her best of the season. LeMar dished out a career-best eight assists with just one turnover in addition to pulling down seven rebounds.
"That's the best game I've seen her play all year. She could have easily had 12 to 14 assists had the guards made some more shots in the second half," Tiber said. "They were open and she was getting them the ball where she needed to."
Tiber also pointed out the solid play of Nwani, who at 5-foot-10 had the task of guarding the Sycamores' 6-foot-5 center Thomas. Nwani finished with career highs of four blocks and 11 rebounds.
"Nneka busted her rear end today," Tiber said. "I thought she worked (Thomas) pretty darn good. She made her take tough shots."
Oliver led SIU with 17 points, 14 of which came in the first half, while Reed added 11. SIU will be back on the road Feb. 3 at Creighton.
"It's a big step forward for us," said LeMar. "It's still a loss, but it shows that we can really compete in the league."
