Southern Illinois University
9-7, 2-3MVC
Evansville
10-7, 5-1MVC
Salukis fall to Evansville, 63-58
01/18/2015 | 12:00:00 | Women's Basketball
By Tyler Wooten
SIUSalukis.com
CARBONDALE, Ill. -- There were 10 lead changes and at one time SIU held an eight-point lead, but the Salukis succumbed to a late 14-2 run that handed a 63-58 victory to Evansville on Sunday afternoon at SIU Arena.
Southern (9-7, 2-3 MVC) got off to a quick start and got an impressive double-double performance out of junior Azia Washington (16 points, 16 rebounds), but the Purple Aces (10-7, 5-1 MVC) rode that late run to victory on the backs of its guard play in the lane -- scoring 34 of their 63 total points in the paint. This loss comes on the heels of a strong, resume-building win over Indiana State on Friday night (65-53).
"Honestly, it feels like getting back to reality," said SIU head coach Cindy Stein. "We played hard against Indiana State and did a lot of things right and then we get back to reality because this is the inconsistency of our team right now, unfortunately. You think that you've learned something and you've got a main cog in the wheel out, you've got to have the veterans -- the kids with the most experience -- step up. And besides Azia Washington, we did not really have that."
The cog Stein refers to is starting point guard Rishonda Napier, who suffered a dislocated left shoulder against Indiana State. Napier is officially listed as day-to-day, but Stein and her staff are waiting to make any other decisions until later this week.
"We just set Wednesday as a day where we are going to evaluate her again," Stein said. "She's really sore today, so she gets the day off tomorrow. Tuesday we're still going to keep her out, and Wednesday we'll have the doctor look at her again and give us an analysis of what they think."
That said, junior transfer Blair Stephenson (12 points, 4-of-7 3PT) earned the start running the offense and filled in admirably. Stephenson, a JUCO All-American last season at Lake Land College, came right out of the gate and knocked down a three to give SIU an early lead and some momentum. The Salukis started on a 10-2 run by the 16:12 mark, but that would be the biggest lead of the day for Southern. UE responded with a 6-0 run of their own, and what followed the remainder of the half was an intense tug-of-war that resulted in four lead changes and two ties -- with three lead changes alone coming within a span of four minutes from 7:52 to 3:36. SIU was able to get back out to a four-point lead after another three from Stephenson and a free throw from Ariel Haynes, but the Aces got the last four of the half to make it only a one-point Saluki advantage at halftime at 29-28.
It was much of the same in the second half, as both teams traded baskets and were tied 45-45 with 7:38 left in the game. Rather than a heavyweight fight to the finish, though, the Evansville offense exploded for a 9-0 run and its defense forced two of SIU's 11 turnovers in the same span. UE led by as many as 13, but the Salukis were eventually able to cut the deficit to five by the time the final buzzer rang.
"We all just didn't buy-in, one-through-five," Washington said. "We have to play hard. We have to be defensively ready, offensively ready, ready to take shots and ready to produce in key moments -- that's what we didn't take care of today."
"It was some key possessions that we needed some stops on and just couldn't get them," Stephenson said. "It was just hard for us to get stops down the stretch, and that's basically what happened. When we needed a stop, we just couldn't get it."
SIU's success was placed almost exclusively on the back of Washington, who came up with big shot after big shot to keep the Salukis in the game on her sixth career double-double performance.
"Azia plays hard," Stein said. "What I love about Azia -- and I told them this in the locker room -- she just wants to win. She doesn't care if she has to guard a guard, she doesn't care if it's a post -- she wants to get stops. She wants to do whatever she needs to do because she wants to win, and that's her focus. And we don't have that type of fighting mentality every single day from everybody. Some days we have it. Friday, we had it from everybody. We've got to clean that up for us to consistently be winners."
Junior center Dyana Pierre didn't have a terrible day at nine points and nine rebounds, but the swarming Purple Aces defense did make things difficult for her and Washington; Pierre shot just 4-of-13 from the field, Washington 7-of-19. Impressively, UE did all this without starting 6-1 forward Mallory Ladd, who sat out with a concussion.
"They definitely did a really good job double-teaming us today," Washington said. "Anytime myself or Dyana got the ball there were two or three people on us. And with (Mallory) Ladd here, I'm sure it wouldn't have been any easier."
And although the Salukis sorely missed Rishonda Napier's 17.3 points per game, the play of Stephenson, backup Hannah Shores (two points) and defensive stalwart Mercedes Griffin (seven points, four assists) helped ease the shock of not having her.
"Rishonda is a fantastic player, so we really struggled at times without her," Stein said. "At the same time, I think Hannah Shores and Blair Stephenson stepped up and did a really solid job at that position offensively and defensively."
Up next, the Salukis will return to the road at Missouri State on Friday (Jan. 23) and Wichita State on Sunday (Jan. 25).
"It's still early, but it's losses like this that you have to take seriously and it has to hurt," Washington said. "But it's also not conference tournament time yet, so we'll learn from it and we just need to get better and make better opportunities from the mistakes we've made before."
