Salukis Continue Road Test against Northern Iowa

01/02/2016 | 12:00:00 | Women's Basketball

Jan. 2, 2016

SIU (8-5, 1-0 MVC) at UNI (6-6, 1-0 MVC)
Date	Sunday, Jan. 3, 2016
Time	2 p.m. CT
Location	Cedar Falls, Iowa / McLeod Center (6,650)
Game Notes	Southern Illinois
Game Notes	Northern Iowa
Video	ESPN3
Radio	Saluki All-Access
Live Stats	Stat Broadcast
Tickets	Buy Tickets
Media Guide	SIU Media Guide
Social Media	@SIU_WBasketball

CEDAR FALLS, Iowa - After winning their first game in Iowa since the 2006-07 season with a gutsy 77-67 win at Drake University on Friday, the Salukis hit the road again to take on Northern Iowa in Cedar Falls, Iowa on Sunday, Jan. 3 at 2 p.m., inside the McLeod Center. Fans can tune into WVZA 105.1 FM starting at 1:40 p.m. for game coverage, while the game can be viewed on ESPN3. The Salukis are looking for their first 2-0 start in Valley play since the 2006-07 season, a season in which Southern advanced to the second round of the Women's National Invitation Tournament (WNIT).

FASTBREAK FACTS
-The Salukis tied a season-high with 10 three-pointers in the win at Drake. It marks the first time since the 2011-12 season that SIU has made 10-plus three-pointers in multiple games in a season.
-SIU has had at least two players in double figures in every single game this season.
-Two Salukis recorded double-doubles in last year's loss to Northern Iowa in the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament Quarterfinals, led by Dyana Pierre's 18 points and 21 rebounds and Azia Washington's 14 points and 14 rebounds. Eight of nine returners played in that game.
-Rishonda Napier scored the 1000^th point of her career in the win over Drake. She is currently second in the Valley with a 15.8 points per game.
-Three Salukis have double-figure season averages. Redshirt junior Rishonda Napier leads the team with 15.8 points per game, redshirt senior Dyana Pierre is averaging 13.3 and redshirt senior Cartaesha Macklin holds onto a 12.7 average.
-Redshirt senior Dyana Pierre leads the Valley in rebounds per game and blocks, ranking 15^th and 32^ndin the nation in those categories, respectively.
-Redshirt senior Cartaesha Macklin leads the Valley, and is fourth in the nation, in free throw percentage, shooting at a 95% (38-of-40) clip from the charity stripe.
-Redshirt senior Dyana Pierre needs to play just four minutes against UNI to become the 9^thSaluki to have played 3,000 career minutes. Cartaesha Macklin needs to play 150 more minutes this season to become the all-time leader in the category.

SERIES HISTORY
The Salukis and the Panthers will meet for the 67th time on Sunday, with UNI holding a slight advantage in the all-time series, 34-32. Southern broke an 11-game losing streak against UNI last year, with the Salukis defeating the Panthers, 79-75 on Feb. 8, 2015. SIU has lost eight-straight in Cedar Falls and 12 of their last 13 to the Panthers, including a 59-50 loss in the MVC Tournament Quarterfinals a year ago that ended the Salukis season. Southern is just 1-8 all-time at the McLeod Center, last winning there on Jan. 13, 2007. Southern won in Iowa for the first time since the 2006-07 season on Friday, defeating Drake, 77-67 to open MVC play.

LAST TIME
SIU 50, UNI 59
Southern Illinois and Northern Iowa were neck-and-neck for 36 minutes of play, but in the last four UNI pulled away after Amber Sorenson hit three treys in 98 seconds to end SIU's season in a 59-50 loss at Family Arena on March 13, 2015. Southern was unbelievably proficient on the boards, breaking an 18-year old MVC Tournament record with 57 team rebounds in the loss. Dyana Pierre posted 18 points and 21 rebounds -- the latter of which is the third-most in a Valley Tournament game.

RPI RANKINGS
According to Warrennolan.com, SIU jumped 28 spots to 118th with the win over Drake and now has the third-highest RPI of any Valley school. Drake (84) and Missouri State (117) are the only schools who have better RPIs in the Valley then Southern. UNI comes into the contest at 134.

NAPIER NAMED MVC PLAYER OF THE WEEK/SCHOLAR-ATHLETE OF THE WEEK (Week of 12/22)
Junior guard Rishonda Napier scored 11 of her game-high 20 points in the first quarter to help Southern Illinois leave Mercer with a 55-52 victory over the Bears. She tied a career-best with six three-pointers on 6-for-9 shooting from beyond the arc, grabbed four rebounds and added two steals in the victory. She has scored in double figures in ten of SIU's 11 games this season, and became the first player in program history to hit six from beyond the arc in back-to-back contests. She currently ranks fourth in the Valley in second (15.8) and third in 3-point field goal percentage (.435).

Napier is the first Saluki to earn MVC Scholar-Athlete of the Week honors since Christine Presswood did so during the 2009-10 season.

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 seven times in 13 contests, and did so in four-straight games for the first time since the 2007-08 season. The Salukis are 19-5 under Stein when recording more assists than turnovers.

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 passed Petra Jackson with her 23 points in the win over Drake to move into 4th all-time in SIU history with 1,489 career points. She needs 50 points to pass Amy Rakers (1987-1991) for most all-time. Over a 17-game stretch she would need to average just 2.94 points per game this season to pass Rakers.

Macklin also needs to play 150 minutes over the course of the season to have played the most minutes in Saluki history. She currently ranks second at 3,419.

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.

PIERRE ALL-TIME LEADING REBOUNDER
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 with her seven boards in the victory over SEMO became Southern's all-time leading rebounder. The redshirt senior forward is fourth all-time in Valley history.

Pierre became just 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)
Wanda Ford (Drake)

PIERRE HITS THE CENTURY MARK
In the win over SEMO on Dec. 22, Dyana Pierre not only broke the school rebounding record- she also became the 39th Saluki to play in 100 games.

MACKLIN PASSES REDEKER
In the win over Drake on Jan. 1, Cartaesha Macklin passed former Saluki standout Karrie Redeker with her 111th game played, moving into a five-way tie for 13th place in the category. By playing in 11 of the Salukis remaining 18 regular season games, Macklin can become the Salukis all-time leader in games played.

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.

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 marked 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.

Napier again tied a career-high with six three-pointers in the Dec. 19 win over Mercer, marking the second consecutive game in which she hit six triples. She is the first player in program history to hit six from beyond the arc in back-to-back contests and is the first Saluki since Teri Oliver in 2009-10 with five or more threes in back-to-back games. The Burbank, Calif. native ranks third in the Valley in 3-point field goal percentage (.440) and fourth in 3-pointers per game (2.8).

Southern is 7-1 this season when Napier makes 40% of her 3-point attempts.

SHOWING THEIR RANGE
The Salukis made 10 3-pointers in the win over Drake, the second time this season they've made 10-plus three-pointers. The last time that SIU made 10-plus threes twice in a season was the 2011-12 season, as Southern made 11 against UT Martin on Dec. 18, 2011 and followed with 11 in a 78-72 MVC win over Missouri State on Jan. 19, 2012.

ACTIVE AROUND THE RIM
The Salukis out-rebounded 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.

Seven of SIU's 8 wins this season have come in games in which Southern wins the rebounding battle, with the Salukis out-rebounding their opponent in a total of 10 of their 13 contests this season. The Dawgs are averaging 44.15 boards per contest, the 31st most per game in the NCAA, and have four players averaging five rebounds or more per game: Dyana Pierre (10.9), Kylie Giebelhausen (5.5), Cartaesha Macklin (5.5) and Kim Nebo (5.4).

The Salukis are currently 18th in the nation in offensive rebounds per game (17.0) and 27th in total rebounds (574) while UNI comes into Sunday's showdown averaging 36.33 rebounds per tilt.

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.

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.

CORRIGAN PROVIDES BENCH DEPTH
Carlie Corrigan sits just 16 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 13 games.

NAPIER MAKING HISTORY
The redshirt junior from Bolingbrook, Calif. joined an exclusive club in the win over Drake on Jan. 1. Napier became the 24th Saluki, and third on the active roster, to reach the 1,000-point plateau.

Napier is now one of eight active Valley student-athletes with 1,000 career points, joining teammates Cartaesha Macklin and Dyana Pierre, as well as Lizzy Wendell (Drake), Kenzie Williams (Missouri State), Sara Dickey (Evansville), Tyonna Snow (Missouri State) and Taylor Johnson (Loyola).

Napier needs just 16 steals to reach 100 and 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 9 assists and 20 steals to do so.

MACKLIN CLEANING THE GLASS
56 times in her storied career, including seven times this season, Cartaesha Macklin has grabbed five or more rebounds in a single game, including nine boards in the win over SEMO on Dec. 22. The Salukis are 5-2 this season when Macklin grabs 5+ rebounds.

FEWEST FOULS
Southern leads the Valley, and is 13th in the nation in committing the fewest personal fouls per game- averaging just 14.1 fouls per game. The Salukis were whistled for just nine fouls in the win over Drake on Jan. 1. That's the fewest they've been called for this season, and marks the third time in the Cindy Stein era the Salukis have been called for single-digit fouls, last accomplishing the feat on Feb. 22, 2015 against Wichita State.

MACKLIN AT THE STRIPE
Cartaesha Macklin leads the Valley, and is fourth in the nation, in free throw percentage, currently shooting at a 95% (38-of-40) clip.

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.

PIERRE RANKED NATIONALLY
Dyana Pierre leads the Valley in rebounds (131), rebounds per game (10.9) and offensive rebounds per game (5.0), while ranking 17th in the nation in total rebounds, 15th in rebounds per contest, and 10th in offensive rebounds per game.

NEBO EMERGES AS FIFTH STARTER
The Salukis have used four different lineups this season, usually coinciding with which lineup gives SIU the best matchups for each opponent. For the first time this season, Southern has used the same lineup for three-straight contests, with Kim Nebo emerging as a potential fifth starter. Nebo logged a career-high 31 minutes in the win over Drake, holding preseason MVC Player of the Year Lizzy Wendell to just three points on 1-of-13 shooting through three quarters, while setting new career-bests in rebounds (15), offensive rebounds (6), defensive rebounds (9) and assists (3).

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.