Women's Basketball hosts Christian Brothers in exhibition play
10/31/2011 | 12:00:00 | Women's Basketball
Oct. 31, 2011
By Bill Ford
SIUSalukis.com
CARBONDALE, Ill. -- The Southern Illinois women's basketball team will host NCAA Division II school Christian Brothers at 7:05 p.m. tomorrow night for the team's only scheduled exhibition game of the 2011-12 preseason.
GAME INFORMATION
Date: Tuesday, Nov. 1
Time: 7:05 p.m.
Location: Carbondale, Ill.
Site: SIU Arena (8,339)
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TEAM FACTS
Southern Illinois Salukis (0-0)
Head Coach: Missy Tiber, Third Year (174-122 overall, 7-52 at SIU)
2010-11Record: 2-28, 0-18 Missouri Valley Conference
Christian Brothers Buccaneers (0-0)
Head Coach: Sarah Condra, Second Year (8-18 overall and at CBU)
2010-11 Record: 8-18, 1-13 Gulf South Conference
DAWG BITES
The Southern Illinois women's basketball team is in its 53rd year of existence. Head Coach Missy Tiber is in her second season with the team and holds a 174-122 (.588) career record entering her 11th season as a head coach. Last season the Salukis finished with a 2-28 record with an 0-18 mark in the Missouri Valley Conference. Southern returns seven letterwinners and four starters from the 2010-11 squad and welcomes two transfers and five freshmen.
SCOUTING CHRISTIAN BROTHERS
The Buccaneers lost their three top scorers from a team that went 8-18 last season, but return plenty of quality playing experience in juniors Jessica Green and Aramis Judson. Green is the team's top returning scorer with an average of 6.8 points per game while Judson averaged 5.2.
LeMAR NAMED TEAM CAPTAIN
Thanks to her hard work in the offseason and in the team's preseason practices, sophomore point guard Brooke LeMar has been named the team's captain to start the 2011-12 season. LeMar returns the second-best assists per game average in the MVC after averaging 4.5 assists per game last season as a true freshman.
OLIVER BRINGS EXPERIENCE
Junior Teri Oliver is Southern's most seasoned player as the only Saluki that has been on the team's roster prior to last season. A two-year starter, Oliver is SIU's top returning scorer and the fifth-best returning scorer in the MVC after averaging 13.0 points per game last season. Only one player in the MVC, Indiana State's Brittany Shoen, has made more 3-pointers than Oliver the last two seasons.
CICI FROM THE BLOCK
Sophomore CiCi Shannon nearly doubled school record with 82 blocked shots last season, which ranks fifth in MVC history for a single season. Shannon ranked second in MVC and 13th nationally with an average of 2.7 blocks per game. She blocked a school record-tying seven shots at Evansville and owns four of top seven single game block totals in SIU history.
SALUKIS RECRUIT
SIU's 2011 recruiting class finished 36th in the final ESPN Hoopgurlz rankings. Southern was the only Missouri Valley Conference team to rank in the Hoopgurlz top 60, and only three programs from mid-major conferences signed classes that ranked higher than SIU's.
S.I.-YOUTH
The Southern Illinois roster contains just two upper classmen in senior Charnise Mitchell and junior Teri Oliver, while the Salukis have 12 players who are freshmen or sophomores. Despite the lopsided ratio, Southern actually returns more years of Division I experience (8) this season than it did last season (7).
SALUKIS LOOK TO BOUNCE BACK
Southern Illinois looks to close the books on a few inglorious records as the Salukis embark on the 2011-12 season. Southern's 2010-11 record of 2-28 broke school and Missouri Valley Conference records for losses in a season, and the Salukis became just the second team in MVC history to go winless in Valley play. SIU will try to end its school and MVC record 20-game losing streak when the Salukis open the season November 11 at Austin Peay.
SALUKIS PICKED 10TH IN PRESEASON POLL
The annual poll of Missouri Valley Conference coaches, media and sports information directors ranked the Salukis in the same spot they finished the 2010-11 season. SIU garnered 65 points in the poll, which was topped by Missouri State. The Lady Bears were tabbed as the preseason conference favorite with 396 points and 36 first-place votes.
NEXT UP
The Salukis open up the 2011-12 regular season on the road November 11 at Austin Peay in Clarksville, Tenn. Southern's home opener will come the following week, November 17, as the Salukis host Loyola-Chicago at SIU Arena.