Southern Illinoise University Athletics
Women's Basketball plays Saturday at Creighton
01/13/2012 | 12:00:00 | Women's Basketball
Jan. 13, 2012
By Bill Ford
SIUSalukis.com
CARBONDALE, Ill.-- The Southern Illinois women's basketball faces Creighton Saturday, still looking for its first Missouri Valley Conference win.
GAME INFORMATION
Date: Saturday, Jan. 14
Time: 2:05 p.m. CST
Location: Omaha, Neb.
Site: D.J. Sokol Arena (2,500)
Radio: 810 WDDD-AM
Play-by-play by Patrick Erickson
Color commentary by Johnny Sole
Game Notes
Live Stats
Live Video (pay)
Game Central Audio (pay)
TEAM FACTS
Southern Illinois Salukis (3-12, 0-5 MVC)
Head Coach: Missy Tiber, Third Year (177-134 overall, 10-64 at SIU)
Creighton Bluejays (7-8, 1-3 MVC)
Head Coach: Jim Flanery, 10th Year (177-124 overall and at Creighton)
SIU VS. CREIGHTON
Southern trails its all-time series with Creighton 30-15 as the Bluejays have won the last seven matchups. SIU's last win over Creighton came in Carbondale during the 2007-08 season. The Salukis haven't beat the Bluejays in Omaha since 2006-07. Creighton picked up its first MVC win of the season Thursday with a 65-33 win over Evansville, which ended a four-game losing streak. Carli Tritz led the Jays with 15 points while Jordan Garrison chipped in 11 points and Sarah Nelson and Alyssa Kamphaus both tallied 11 rebounds against the Purple Aces. Tritz leads Creighton in scoring for the season with an average of 13.1 points per game while Nelson is close behind at 12.9 points per game. Nelson is the team's leading rebounder with an average of 7.0 per game while Tritz averages a team-best 3.0 assists per game.
DRAKE TOPS SALUKIS 73-59
The Southern Illinois women's basketball team struggled to match Drake's physicality Thursday night as the Bulldogs pulled away late for a 14-point win. The Salukis turned the ball over 19 times, gave up a 48-30 rebounding advantage and couldn't find an answer for Drake center Rachael Hackbarth, who finished with 25 points and 15 rebounds. Teri Oliver led SIU with 18 points while Cartaesha Macklin added 15 and Alexus Patterson scored 12. The Salukis averaged 22 free throw attempts per game entering the contest, but made it to the line a season-low 10 times against the Bulldogs.
OLIVER NEARS 1,000 POINTS
SIU junior guard Teri Oliver stands just 17 points shy of her 1,000th career point. The Kokomo, Ind., native ranks third in the MVC with an average of 17.7 points per game, but a thumb injury on her shooting hand has slowed her scoring average to 13.4 points per game in MVC play. Oliver will become the 21st player in SIU's 1,000-point club.
AVOIDING UNWANTED HISTORY
SIU's first win of the 2011-12 season ended an MVC-record 22-game losing streak that dated back to last season. The Salukis look to avoid tying another Valley losses record against Creighton. A loss to the Bluejays would mark Southern's 24th straight in MVC play, which would tie Bradley's record from 1999 to 2000.
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 17.7 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 10th in the conference with a free throw percentage of 76.0 percent and has made it to the line an MVC-leading 129 times.
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 nine games to up her season average to 6.8 per game, which ranks ninth in the MVC.
