Southern Illinoise University Athletics
Women's Basketball travels to Drake Thursday
01/11/2012 | 12:00:00 | Women's Basketball
Jan. 11, 2012
By Bill Ford
SIUSalukis.com
CARBONDALE, Ill.-- The Southern Illinois women's basketball team travels to Drake Thursday, looking to end a seven-game losing streak and pick up its first Missouri Valley Conference win.
GAME INFORMATION
Date: Thursday, Jan. 12
Time: 7:05 p.m. CST
Location: Des Moines, Iowa
Site: Knapp Center (7,152)
Radio: 810 WDDD-AM
Play-by-play by Patrick Erickson
Color commentary by Johnny Sole
Game Notes
Live Stats
Game Central Audio
TEAM FACTS
Southern Illinois Salukis (3-11, 0-4 MVC)
Head Coach: Missy Tiber, Third Year (177-133 overall, 10-63 at SIU)
Drake Bulldogs (7-7, 1-2 MVC)
Head Coach: Amy Stephens, Ninth Year (337-164 overall, 140-121 at Drake)
SIU VS. DRAKE
Southern trails its all-time series with Drake 47-24 and the Bulldogs have won the last three matchups. Drake enters the weekend on a two-game skid after falling to Wichita State and Missouri State on the road last week. The Bulldogs are led by the MVC's second-leading scorer and third-leading rebounder in center Rachael Hackbarth, who averages 17.9 points and 9.6 rebounds per game. Behind Hackbarth, Kyndal Clark averages 9.4 points per game and Brittnye McSparron averages 8.8 points per game. The game will pit the MVC's top rebounding offense against the top rebounding defense. SIU average and MVC-leading 40.3 rebounds per game as a team, but the Bulldogs surrender an average of just 32.9 boards per game.
SALUKI COMEBACK FALLS JUST SHORT IN 70-66 LOSS TO NORTHERN IOWA
The Salukis posted a furious late-game rally, but couldn't complete the comeback in a four-point loss to the defending MVC champions. Southern came back from a 10-point second-half deficit with a 12-2 run that was capped by Antishia Wright's 3-pointer with 1:42 remaining. SIU couldn't steal the lead in the final minutes, however, and the Panthers hit just enough free throws to pull out the win. Alexus Patterson had the finest game of her young SIU career with career highs of 18 points and 16 rebounds. Cartaesha Macklin scored 20 points for Southern, 12 of which came from the free throw line. Her 12 free throws are tied for the third most in a game in SIU history.
PATTERSON NAMED MVC NEWCOMER OF THE WEEK
Freshman center Alexus Patterson was named the MVC's Newcomer of the week Monday after strong performances last week against Bradley and Northern Iowa. Patterson averaged 12.0 points and 10.5 rebounds in the two games to earn SIU's first weekly MVC honor since the 2009-10 season. Patterson has posted five double-digit rebounding totals in SIU's last eight games to up her season average to 7.1 per game, which ranks eighth in the MVC.
BUSTING THE SLUMP
SIU ended a rough stretch of free throw shooting through the start of Valley play, going 18-for-22 from the free throw line for an 81.8 percent clip against Northern Iowa. Southern had made just 51.4 of its free throws (37 of 72) in its first three MVC games. In particular, SIU point guard Cartaesha Macklin had a personal turnaround making 12 of 13 against the Panthers. Macklin had hit just 14 of 29 in the first three Valley games (48.3 percent).
SOUTHERN'S DYNAMIC DUO
SIU has two of the top four scorers in the MVC in guards Teri Oliver and Cartaesha Macklin. Oliver ranks third in the MVC with an average of 17.6 points per game and Macklin ranks fourth in the Valley at 16.1 points per game. Oliver ranks seventh nationally with an average of 3.2 made 3-pointers per game. The leading scorer among Valley newcomers, Macklin ranks ninth in the conference with a free throw percentage of 76.2 percent and has made it to the line an MVC-leading 122 times.
CLOSE CALLS
SIU's four-point loss to Northern Iowa Saturday was one of several instances this season in which the Salukis have been on the brink of winning, only to fall short late. Southern has lost five games by six points or fewer, and the Salukis held leads or ties in the final minutes of each of those losses. In a fifth loss, SIU's 70-60 overtime defeat against SIU Edwardsville, Southern held a lead near the end of regulation before allowing a last-second Cougar bucket to force overtime.
