Southern Illinois Heads South to face Mercer
12/17/2015 | 12:00:00 | Women's Basketball
| Southern Illinois (5-4) at Mercer (6-4) | |
| Date | Saturday, Dec. 19, 2015 |
| Time | 1 p.m. CT |
| Location | Mercer Ga. / Hawkins Arena (3,500) |
| Game Notes | Southern Illinois  |
| Game Notes | Mercer |
| Radio | Saluki All-Access |
| Watch | ESPN3 |
| Live Stats | Live Stats |
| Media Guide | SIU Media Guide |
| Social Media | @SIU_WBasketball |
CARBONDALE, Ill. - The Southern Illinois University women's basketball team heads south to Mercer University as non-conference action continues in December.
The Salukis (5-4) picked up their fifth win Dec. 12 with a victory over Morehead State and hope that momentum carries them to win number six in Mercer, Georgia on Saturday. The game will air on ESPN3 and WVZA 105.1 FM, with pregame beginning at 12:40 p.m. CST.
Last season, SIU defeated Mercer in Carbondale, 67-52, behind a double-double from Dyana Pierre (20 points-10 rebounds) and 14 points from Rishonda Napier.
"Our kids really rose to the challenge," said head coach Cindy Stein. "(Mercer) had some tremendous, one-on-one type players that could score at will and our kids answered the challenge of wanting to defend them and played really hard. I was very pleased with (last year's win over Mercer). We're going to have the same kind of situation heading there. They play really well at home. We're really going to have to defensively get out there and cause some problems."
The Bears (6-4) are 3-1 at Hawkins Arena this season and rank 20thin the nation in assists-to-turnover ratio (1.25). Mercer has won two of its last three games, but are coming off a loss to 10th-ranked Florida State on Dec. 15.
In Southern's most recent outing, seven players stepped up with double-digit performances paced by 22 points from redshirt junior guard Rishonda Napier. Redshirt seniors Dyana Pierre and Cartaesha Macklin, juniors Kim Nebo and Carlie Corrigan, sophomore Celina VanHyfte and freshman Olivia Bowling were also in double figures as SIU put together a solid four quarters offensively.
FASTBREAK FACTS
-The Salukis broke the school-record for most points in a game in their 102-69 win over Morehead State on Dec. 12. The previous record of 101 was set on March 5, 1994.
-SIU has had at least two players in double figures in every single game this season, including seven in the win over the Eagles on Dec. 12.
-Two scored in double digits in last season's win vs. Mercer, led by Dyana Pierre's game-high 20 points and Rishonda Napier added 14. All nine returners played, and scored in that game.
-Dyana Pierre grabbed her 1,000threbound of her career in the win over Morehead State to become the sixth player in the Valley-era to score 1,000 points and grab 1,000 rebounds. She leads the Valley with a 12.0 rebounds per game average.
-Three Salukis have double-figure season averages. Redshirt junior Rishonda Napier leads the team with 14.7 points per game, redshirt senior Dyana Pierre is averaging 13.9 and redshirt senior Cartaesha Macklin holds onto a 10.8 average.
-Redshirt senior Dyana Pierre leads the Valley in rebounds per game, blocks per game, and double-doubles. Nationally, she ranks 12thin rebounds per game, is tied for 19thin blocks per game.
-The Salukis have now had more assists than turnovers in four straight games- the longest such streak since the 2007-08 season.
SERIES HISTORY
The Salukis are 2-0 all-time against the Mercer Bears, having defeated the Bears, 67-52 in Carbondale on Nov. 30, 2014. The matchup marks the first time in program history that SIU is playing a game in the state of Georgia. Mercer comes into the matchup sporting a 3-1 record at the Hawkins Arena, while this is the third time that Coach Stein and Coach Gardner have coached against each other. The two have split the head-to-head matchups, with Gardner's 2002-03 Austin Peay team defeating Stein's Missouri team, and the Salukis returning the favor with a win over Gardner's Mercer squad last year.
LAST TIME
SIU 67, Mercer 52
A stout Saluki defense stifled a potentially lethal Mercer offensive attack in Southern's 67-52 victory over the Bears on Nov. 30, 2014 at the SIU Arena -- making SIU 4-1 for the first time in more than two decades. Dyana Pierre recorded her 24th career double-double with a 20 point, 10 rebound effort on 10-of-17 shooting while Rishonda Napier added 14 points.
SIU VERSUS THE SOUTHERN CONFERENCE
SIU plays just its fourth contest against current Southern Conference schools on Saturday, with three of those games against Mercer. The lone loss came against Western Carolina, 44-42 during the 1968-69 season.
RPI RANKINGS
According to Warrennolan.com, SIU currently ranks 143rd, a 23-spot jump after the win over Morehead State. Mercer currently ranks 158th.
THE STEIN EFFECT
Since Cindy Stein's arrival in Carbondale, the Salukis have taken better care of the basketball than previous SIU squads. In 2013-14, Stein's first season at the helm, the Salukis finished with more assists than turnovers in three games- which was as many times as SIU had accomplished that feat in the previous three seasons combined. The following season, the Salukis finished with a positive assist-to-turnover ratio 14 times, the most since the 2007-08 team that accomplished the task 12 times en route to a WNIT berth. This season, the Salukis have finished with a positive assist-to-turnover ratio five times in nine contests, and have done so in four-straight games for the first time since the 2007-08 season. The last time that the Dawgs strung five-straight games with more assists than turnovers was the 1992-93 season, in which SIU went 6-0 over a six-game stretch of more assists than turnovers. The Salukis also improved to 17-5 under Stein when recording more assists than turnovers with the win over Morehead State.
PIERRE NAMED PRESEASON ALL-MVC
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 10.2 career rebounds per game currently ranks her third in MVC history.
MACKLIN CLIMBING UP THE RANKS
Cartaesha Macklin currently ranks fifth all-time in SIU history with 1,421 career points. She needs 118 points to pass Amy Rakers (1987-1991) for most all-time. Over a 21-game stretch she would need to average 5.6 points per game this season to pass Rakers. Macklin passed Molly McDowell (1999-03) for most free throws made in a career with her 368th make in the win over Murray State on Dec. 2.
1,000 POINTS-500 REBOUNDS CLUB
With eight rebounds in the win over Morehead State, Cartaesha Macklin became the 16th Saluki to score over 1000 points and grab 500 or more rebounds. Macklin is just the fourth to join the club since the 2001 season, with Dyana Pierre being the most recent member and also became the first Saluki to ever amass 1,400 points, 400 assists, and 500 rebounds in a career.
1,000 POINTS-1,000 REBOUNDS CLUB
Sue Faber has some company. The 1983 SIU graduate, who scored 1,507 points and snagged 1,014 career rebounds has sat alone atop the all-time list as the top rebounder in Southern's history, as well as the lone member of the 1,000-point, 1,000-rebound club. Senior Dyana Pierre became the second Saluki to score 1,000 points and grab 1,000 rebounds with her 14 boards in the win over Morehead State, and just the sixth in the Valley-era to accomplish the feat. Pierre now needs 14 rebounds to pass Faber to become Southern's all-time leading rebounder. The redshirt senior forward is currently second all-time on the school rebounding list and sixth all-time in MVC history.
Pierre became the sixth in Valley history, and the first since 2008, to amass 1,000 pts/1,000 rebounds, joining: Jennifer Kackza (Wichita State), Alex Cook (UNI), Angela Buckner (Wichita State), Jill Martin (Drake), and Wanda Ford (Drake).
HAWKINS TO REDSHIRT
Head coach Cindy Stein announced that freshman Tiajaney Hawkins will require surgery on her injured shoulder, an injury she suffered against Memphis on Nov. 29, and will medically redshirt for the remainder of this season. Hawkins appeared in five games this season, averaging three points and one rebound.
TWO GOOD HALVES MAKE A WHOLE
Southern scored 50 points in the first half during its win over Morehead State on Dec. 12- its most in an opening half since tallying 52 points in the first half of a 95-76 victory over Indiana State on Jan. 3, 2008. The Salukis scored 52 points in the second half, the most in any half since putting up 52 in the second half against Saint Louis University on Nov. 14, 2008.
BENCH COMES ALIVE
The Saluki reserves scored 43 of SIU's school-record 102 points in the win over Morehead State- the most by a Saluki bench since in the 2007-08 season when the Saluki bench accounted for 46 of SIU's 71 points in a 71-55 win over Christian Brothers University on Nov. 12, 2007. All 11 who dressed in the win over Morehead State tallied at least one point- the first time 11 Salukis scored in one game since the Nov. 30, 2014 win over Mercer University.
3 SQUAD #BOOM
The Salukis drained 10 3-pointers in the win over Morehead State, including a career-high tying six from Rishonda Napier. It marks the first time that Southern has made double-digits 3s since March 14, 2013 against Evansville, and Napier's six 3s were the fifth-most in a single game in program history.
TAKING 'EM TO BOARDING SCHOOL
The Salukis outrebounded Morehead State, 63-to-45 in the win on Dec. 12. SIU finished one off the school-record, and it marks the eighth-most rebounds in a single game in Valley history. The +18 rebounding margin was the largest for SIU since the Salukis posted a +20 in a 76-71 overtime win over Murray State on Dec. 19, 2009.
LIGHTING UP THE SCOREBOARD
The Salukis broke a 31-year old school record with 102 points in the win over Morehead State on Dec. 12. The previous record was 101, set on March 5, 1984. It's just the fourth time that Southern has cracked the century mark, and the second time during the Cindy Stein era. The +33 point margin of victory was the largest for SIU since a +33 win over Wichita State on March 3, 2007. The Salukis also had seven score in double figures- the first time that has happened dating back to the 1978-79 season.
JOINING THE CLUB
Senior forward/center Azia Washington became the 32nd Saluki to score 800 career points on Dec. 2, and only the 18th member of the 800-point/500-rebound club while Rishonda Napier scored her 900th career point in the win over SIUE on Dec. 4 to become the 26th Saluki to score 900-plus career points.
CANT CHECK ME
Rishonda Napier has only been held scoreless once in her career- in a 77-64 loss to Indiana State her freshman year.
GIEBELHAUSEN THE DISTRIBUTOR
Kylie Giebelhausen tied a season-high with four assists in the win over SIUE on Dec 4. It marks the 11th time in her career, and fifth time in nine games this season, that she's totaled four assists or more in a single contest. She currently is four assists away from 100 for her career- which would make her the 49th Saluki to pass the 100 assists plateau. In addition to those four assists, if the sophomore from East Peoria, Ill. scores 16 points she will become the 42nd Saluki, and fifth on the active roster, to total 300 points/150 boards/100 assists.
CORRIGAN PROVIDES BENCH DEPTH
Carlie Corrigan sits just three rebounds from 100, and 26 points from 200 for her career. She would become the 92nd Saluki to amass 200 points/100 rebounds. Corrigan, who has been the Salukis' sixth-man this season and is a team captain, has played 20 or more minutes in six of SIU's nine games.
MACK-ATTACK
After coming off the bench for the first time in 100 games in the loss to Memphis, Macklin started both contests last week and averaged 17.0 points, 6.0 rebounds, 6.5 assists and 1.0 steals to lead SIU to back-to-back wins. The redshirt senior from Mayo, Fla. shot 11-for-22 (50%) from the field, 7-of-12 (58%) from three, and 5-of-6 (83%) from the charity stripe. She opened the week with a game-high 24 points on 8-of-12 shooting from the field, including 5-of-6 from three, and added seven assists, four rebounds, one block and one steal in the 70-57 win over Murray State on Dec. 2. She followed that up with 10 points, eight rebounds, six assists, and a steal in the 71-57 victory over SIUE on Dec. 4.
NAPIER CHASING HISTORY
The redshirt junior from Bolingbrook, Calif. can join an exclusive club this season. She sits just 55 points shy of 1,000 and 21 steals from 100. If and when she does that, she will become the 10th Saluki, joining teammate Cartaesha Macklin, to score 1,000 points, snag 200 rebounds, dish out 200 assists and tally 100 steals. Dyana Pierre has an outside chance of joining Napier and Macklin in that club, needing 12 assists and 24 steals to do so.
MACKLIN CLEANING THE GLASS
55 times in her storied career, including five times this season, Cartaesha Macklin has grabbed five or more rebounds in a single game, including eight boards in the win over Morehead St. on Dec. 12. The Salukis are 3-2 this season when Macklin grabs 5+ rebounds.
BOWLING SHINES
Bowling came off the bench in both games for the Salukis this past week, averaging 5.5 points, 3.0 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 1.0 steals. The freshman from Elizabethtown, Ky. had a career night in the win over Morehead State on Saturday- establishing new career-highs in minutes (21), field goals (4), rebounds (5), assists (3), steals (2) and points (11) and was one of seven Salukis to score in double-figures.
PUTTING IN THE TIME
Two Salukis rank in the top-10 in the Valley in minutes played. Kylie Giebelhausen leads the way in sixth in the MVC with an average of 33.9 minutes per contest, while Rishonda Napier is seventh with an average of 33.1 minutes per contest.
SALUKI RADIO NETWORK
The flagship station for Saluki women's basketball is WVZA 105.1 FM. Bryce Williams is in his fourth season as the full-time radio broadcaster for Saluki women's basketball. All audio from Saluki basketball games are available on SIUSalukis.com.
FOLLOW US
The official Twitter and Instagram of Saluki women's basketball is @SIU_WBasketball. This account features team news as well as live in-game updates. Fans can also follow Saluki Athletics @SIUSalukis for news on all SIU sports.
SALUKI NEWS ONLINE
SIUSalukis.com is the official website for SIU Athletics. It is the best source for up-to-date information on the Saluki women's basketball team. Rosters, box scores, cumulative statistics, pre-game notes and other materials are available on the site. You will need Adobe Acrobat to read PDF files.
