Southern Illinoise University Athletics
Women's Basketball Heads to Wichita State Friday
01/21/2016 | 12:00:00 | Women's Basketball
| Southern Illinois (11-6, 4-1 MVC) at Wichita State (3-14, 0-6 MVC) | |
| Date | Friday, Jan. 22, 2016 |
| Time | 7 p.m. CT |
| Location | Wichita, Kan. / Koch Arena (10,506) |
| Game Notes | Southern Illinois |
| Video | ESPN3 |
| Radio | Saluki All-Access |
| Live Stats | Stat Broadcast |
| Tickets | Buy Tickets |
| Media Guide | SIU Media Guide |
| Social Media | @SIU_WBasketball |
CARBONDALE, Ill. - The Salukis hit the road to take on the Wichita State Shockers in Wichita, Kan. on Friday, Jan. 22 at 7 p.m., inside the Koch Arena. Fans can tune into WVZA 105.1 FM starting at 6:40 p.m. for game coverage, while the game can be viewed on ESPN3.
The Salukis enters the weekend leading the Valley in 3-point field goal percentage (34.0%) and are second in the conference in scoring (70.4pts/game). Southern made 13 3-pointers in the win over Evansville on Saturday, tied for the second-most in a game in program history. The Salukis are on pace to shatter the program record for treys in a season, as they are currently averaging 7.05 3's per game and have made 120 for the year, the 13th-most in a season in SIU history.
"It's rare when I think that we are off from three, but I think that always happens, which is why we stress defense so much," said SIU head coach Cindy Stein. "I think we're a good shooting team, especially when we're taking good shots- that increases our percentages as well."
Redshirt junior Rishonda Napier leads the Salukis, and is second in the Valley in both three-point percentage (40.5%) and 3-point field goals made per game (2.8). Redshirt senior Cartaesha Macklin, who set the school record for career points in the win over Evansville last Saturday, is shooting 38.5% (20-of-52) from beyond the arc, while sophomore Kylie Giebelhausen is shooting at a 33% (29-of-88) clip.
Southern will again look to put to bed a couple of long streaks on this road trip, as the Salukis haven't won in Wichita, Kan. since the 2007-08 season, and haven't won at Missouri State since the 2006-07 season. The Salukis haven't swept the Shockers and Bears in the same road trip since the 1988-89 season.
"It's another obstacle for us to overcome," said Stein. "This group has been really good at knocking down those kind of barriers that other [SIU] teams have encountered. But we will have to play really well."
The Wichita State Shockers (3-14, 0-6 MVC) come into Friday's contest riding a seven-game losing streak and looking for their first Valley win of the season. The Shockers rank 336th out of 344 DI teams in scoring, averaging just 51.8 points per game.
"[Wichita State] is going to get better. They're a scrappy team, they're always an outstanding defensive team that has struggled scoring this season," said Stein. "They are ten times better than there record indicates, we can not go in there soft, we've got to be ready to go."
The Shockers are led by University of Minnesota transfer Rangie Bessard, who was named the MVC Newcomer of the Week after averaging 21.5 points and 12.0 rebounds in Wichita State's two losses last week.
Follow @SIU_WBasketball on twitter for live, in-game updates, while live stats, video and audio links can be found on SIUSalukis.com, as well as at www.facebook.com/SalukiWBasketball.
SERIES HISTORY
The Salukis and the Shockers meet for the 68th time in a series that dates back to 1981. Southern leads the all-time series 35-32 but has lost the last two meetings against the defending MVC champions. SIU last beat Wichita State in the Koch Arena on Jan. 10, 2008.
LAST TIME
SIU 61, WICHITA STATE 69
The Saluki offense did all it could, but Alex Harden and the MVC's top-ranked Shockers proved too much to handle for Southern Illinois as Wichita State was able to overcome a blistering first-half shooting effort and late second half comeback out of Southern for a 69-61 win Feb. 22, 2015 at SIU Arena. The Shockers recorded an outstanding 50 points in the paint, thanks primarily to the excellent ball-handling and drive ability of the MVC's reigning Player of the Year in Harden (25 points, four rebounds, three assists, three steals).
RPI RANKINGS
According to Warrennolan.com, The Valley has three teams in the top-115 led by Drake (99) and followed by Missouri State (109) and SIU (114).
ONE OF JUST THREE
Southern Illinois is one of just three programs in the nation with three 1,000-point scorers (Rishonda Napier, Dyana Pierre, Cartaesha Macklin) on the roster. SIU joins the defending national champion UConn Huskies and the 11th-ranked Oregon State Beavers as the only programs to have three 1,000-point scorers.
SIU RECEIVING VOTES
For the first time this season, SIU received votes in the Jan. 12 edition of the Collegeinsider.com Women's Mid-Major Top-25. The Salukis were listed on six ballots, and joined Drake and Missouri State in receiving votes.
BUCKING THE TREND
Southern Illinois' win at both Drake and Northern Iowa early this year not only improved SIU to 9-5 for the first time since 1994-95 and gave it its first 2-0 start in Valley play since 2006-07, but it also snapped a couple of nasty streaks. First, the victory over the Bulldogs broke a nine-game losing streak at Drake dating back to Feb. 16, 2007 while the win at Northern Iowa was the first for the Salukis since Jan. 13, 2007. With the win over Bradley, Southern had its first 3-0 Valley start since the 1993-94 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 nine times in 17 contests, and did so in four-straight games for the first time since the 2007-08 season. The Salukis are 21-5 under Stein when recording more assists than turnovers.
HISTORY IN THE MAKING
With her four points against Evansville, Cartaesha Macklin passed Amy Rakers (1987-1991) to become SIU's all-time leading scorer with 1,542 career points. Rakers record stood for 25 years. Macklin now needs to play 23 minutes over the course of the season to have played the most minutes in Saluki history. She currently ranks second at 3,550 and is just the second Saluki to have played 3,500-plus minutes in a career.
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 1,500 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 third 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 is also one of just five active players in the 1,000 point/1,000 rebound club, along with:
Jillian Alleyne, Oregon
Joy Adams, Iona
Alisia Jenkins, South Florida
Ruvanna Campbell, Ill.-Chicago
PIERRE REBOUNDS IN BUNCHES
Dyana Pierre grabbed 15+ rebounds in three-straight contests, marking the fourth time a Saluki has had such a streak since 1976, and the third-time Pierre has done it. Amy Raker recorded 15+ rebounds in three-straight games from 11/23-11/30/90. Of the 80 games of 15+ rebounds in SIU history, Pierre's 24 account for more than a quarter of them. Pierre has recorded 15+ rebounds five times already this season- or as many 15+ rebound performances as there were for Southern from 2008 to 2012.
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.
MACKLIN MOVING ON UP
By playing against Wichita State on Friday, Cartaesha Macklin will play her 116th career game, the seventh-most in SIU history. By playing in six of the Salukis remaining 13 regular season games, Macklin can become the Salukis all-time leader in games played.
TRIPLES GALORE
The Salukis made a season-high 13 3-pointers in their win over Evansville on Saturday, marking the third game this season that SIU has made 10 or more 3-pointers in a game. The 2015-16 season marks just the second time in the last 10 seasons, and third time in the last 20, that a SIU squad has made 10-plus 3's on three separate occasions, last accomplishing the feat during the 2009-10 season. No Saluki squad has ever made 10 3-pointers in four or more contests, and have only once (1994-95 season) made 10-plus in back-to-back games. This season, the Salukis have made 120 treys with a robust 7.05 3-pointers per game average and are on pace to shatter the school record of 189 3-pointers set during the 2011-12 season. Southern already has the 13th most 3's in a season in program history.
3 SQUAD #BOOM
The Salukis drained 10 3-pointers in the win over Evansville, 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 is second in the Valley in both 3-point field goal percentage (40.5%) and 3-pointers per game (2.9).
Southern is 9-1 this season when Napier makes 40% of her 3-point attempts and 5-0 when Napier shoots 50% or better from three.
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.
10 of SIU's 11 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 14 of their 17 contests this season. The Dawgs are averaging 44.76 boards per contest, the 14th most per game in the NCAA, and have four players averaging five rebounds or more per game: Dyana Pierre (12.3), Kylie Giebelhausen (5.4), Cartaesha Macklin (5.4) and Kim Nebo (5.5).
The Salukis are currently 14th in the nation in offensive rebounds per game (17.0) and 29th in total rebounds (761) while Wichita State comes into Friday's showdown averaging the fewest rebounds per game of any DI team at 29.82 rebounds per tilt.
CONTROLLING THE GLASS
The Salukis are a perfect 5-0 this season when grabbing 20+ offensive rebounds and 3-0 when corralling 20+ offensive and 30+ defensive boards.
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 became the 92nd Saluki to amass 200 points/100 rebounds with her nine points in the win over Evansville. Corrigan, who has been the Salukis' sixth-man this season and is a team captain, has played 15 or more minutes in 12 of SIU's 17 games.
NAPIER MAKING HISTORY
The redshirt junior from Burbank, 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 11 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 three assists and 11 steals to do so.
MACKLIN CLEANING THE GLASS
58 times in her storied career, including nine 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 7-2 this season when Macklin grabs 5+ rebounds.
FEWEST FOULS
Southern leads the Valley, and is 14th 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 third in the nation, in free throw percentage, currently shooting at a 92.3% (48-of-52) 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 and is 16th on the Valley's all-time list.
DOUBLE TROUBLE
Dyana Pierre notched her fifth-straight double-double in the win over Evansville on Saturday, scoring 15 points and grabbing 14 boards. The five-game streak is the second-longest such streak for the redshirt senior from Port St. Lucie, Fla., in her career, as she posted six-straight double-doubles last season. Pierre's 10 double-doubles this season are the most in the Valley and are tied for the ninth-most in the nation, while her 47 career double-doubles rank second in MVC history. Pierre is currently averaging 13.7 points and 12.3 rebounds per game, and could become the first in the Valley since Wichita State's Antoinette Wells did so during the 2005-06 and 2006-07 seasons to average a double-double in back-to-back seasons.
PIERRE RANKED NATIONALLY
Dyana Pierre leads the Valley in rebounds (197), rebounds per game (12.3) and offensive rebounds per game (5.0), and is currently top-10 in the nation in all three categories, including third in offensive rebounds. She ranks 10th in total rebounds and seventh in rebounds per game.
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.
