Southern Illinoise University Athletics
Women's Basketball Hosts Maryville in Exhibition Opener
10/29/2015 | 12:00:00 | Women's Basketball
By: Will Becque
SIUSalukis.com
CARBONDALE, Ill. -- The Saluki women's basketball team will open the 2015-16 season with an exhibition contest against Maryville on Friday night at the SIU Arena.
TEAM FACTS
Southern Illinois Salukis (0-0, 0-0 MVC)
Head Coach: Cindy Stein • Third Season • 304-244 (19th season) • 22-38 at SIU
Maryville Saints (0-0, 0-0 GLVC)
Head Coach: Chris Ellis • 15th Season • 244-145 (15th season) • 244-145 at Maryville
ON-THE-AIR
Web Stream: ESPN3
Play-by-Play: Bryce Williams, Mike Trude
FOR STARTERS
The Southern Illinois women's basketball team wrapped up a historic 2014-15 season with a 17-13 record and a 10-8 mark in MVC play. The Salukis return nine letterwinners that made up 92 percent of the team's scoring and 93 percent of the team's rebounding a year ago, led by All-MVC first-team selections Dyana Pierre and Rishonda Napier. Napier comes into this season looking to become the 23rd member of the 1,000-point plateau, while Pierre needs just 95 rebounds to become the first Saluki to score over a 1,000 career points and grab more than 1,000 rebounds. Redshirt senior guard Cartaesha Macklin is also back, and could make a run at SIU's all-time scoring record. Macklin sits in sixth-place on the all-time list with 1,324 points and needs 215 points to surpass current record holder Amy Rakers (1,538).
SCOUTING THE SAINTS
The Saints finished the 2014-15 season with a 15-14 overall record, and an 8-10 record in the GLVC. Senior center Alex Hillyer leads all returning players after posting 11.6 points per game and 4.8 rebounds per game last season off the bench. Senior guard Jordynn Martin averaged 10.7 points per game and finished with 47 assists. Last season, the Saints played a preseason game at MVC member Illinois State, where they dropped a 77-68 decision in double-overtime.
PRESEASON POLL
Southern was picked to finish fourth in the annual MVC Preseason Poll, which tallies the votes of conference coaches, media and SIDs. Missouri State has been tabbed as the preseason favorite as the Lady Bears are coming off a season in which they advanced to the 2014-15 MVC Tournament championship and closed out last season winners of 10 of their final 12 games. Missouri State, much like SIU, returns almost all of its statistical output from last season's 18-15 squad that earned a berth to the WNIT.
"We are thrilled that people believe we will do better this year but our main focus will be on winning the Valley Championship," said head coach Cindy Stein. "We know how tough that will be since so many great players return but we are confident in our work ethic and toughness and we are excited to see where it all shakes out in the end in Moline, Ill. at the MVC tourney."
WEARING MAROON
Saluki fans will have an opportunity to see the Salukis wear their road maroon jerseys against Maryville, as the newest home white jerseys have yet to arrive and the previous iteration are illegal due an outdated logo that adorns them.
EARLY ACCOLADES FOR PIERRE
Senior center Dyana Pierre was again one of six honorees on the MVC's Preseason All-Conference team. Pierre is coming off a superb junior campaign in which she became only the third Saluki to earn First-Team All-MVC honors in back-to-back seasons since Valley play began in 1992-93.
Pierre has led the conference in rebounds in each of her three seasons, and her 10.1 career rebounds per game currently ranks her third in MVC history. The senior center is 95 rebounds shy of becoming the first Saluki to ever amass both 1,000 points and 1,000 rebounds. Pierre was efficient when it came to scoring the basketball last season, leading the conference with a .554 field goal percentage to go along with 14.8 points per game. She also led the Valley in offensive rebounds (4.3/g) and finished fourth with 1.3 blocks per game.
FAMILIAR FACES
The Salukis return nine letterwinners from last season's 17-13 squad, with all nine having appeared in at least 20 games. SIU has four seniors (Dyana Pierre, Blair Stephenson, Cartaesha Macklin, Azia Washington), three juniors (Carlie Corrigan, Kim Nebo, Rishonda Napier) and two sophomores (Kylie Giebelhausen, Celina VanHyfte) on the roster in addition to three freshmen (Ashley Hummel, Tiajaney Hawkins, Olivia Bowling).
MVC LETTERWINNERS RETURNING STARTERS RETURNING
Bradley 9 4
Drake 7 3
Evansville 8 3
Illinois St. 4 2
Indiana St. 8 0
Loyola 6 3
Missouri St. 10 4
Northern Iowa 10 4
Southern Illinois 9 5
Wichita State 3 0
NAPIER, PIERRE NAMED FIRST-TEAM ALL-MVC
Rishonda Napier and Dyana Pierre were both named to the All-MVC First-Team last season, marking the fourth time, and first since the 1995-96 season, that SIU has had two first-team All-MVC honorees in the same season.
GIEBELHAUSEN SELECTED TO ALL-MVC FRESHMAN TEAM
Kylie Giebelhausen became the 10th Saluki to earn All-MVC Freshman team honors last season after averaging 6.9 points, 3.4 rebounds, 2.2 assists and 1.0 blocks in 27.7 minutes per game. She scored a career-high 18 points on 7-of-10 shooting from the field against one of the nation's top defenses in Wichita State and her 47 made threes were the 11th-most in the MVC.
GIEBELHAUSEN'S BLOCK PARTY
Giebelhausen's 30 blocks were the seventh-most in the MVC last season. She recorded five blocks in back-to-back games, swatting away five shots against Memphis on Nov. 26 before turning away another five against SEMO on Nov. 28. The sophomore guard averaged 1.0 blocks per contest, the highest average by a guard in the MVC.
PRESEASON WNIT
The Salukis kick off the 2015-16 regular season with a trip to Chicago for a Preseason WNIT first-round matchup against the defending Big East champion DePaul Blue Demons. The Preseason WNIT appearance is just the second for the Salukis since the event began in 1994, and will mark the first meeting between the two schools since 2011. The Salukis will have a chance to do something that hasn't been done in the program's 57-year history by winning at DePaul. The Salukis are 3-9 all-time against the Blue Demons, with all three wins coming in Carbondale.
THE VALLEY ON ESPN3
As part of the 10-year extension that the Missouri Valley Conference and ESPN announced over the summer, ESPN3 will showcase a minimum of 820 MVC events a year.
FOLLOW US
The official Twitter of Saluki women's basketball is @SIU_WBasketball. Fans are encouraged to follow for in-game updates as well as team news. For coverage of all 18 SIU teams, follow @SIUSalukis.
