Southern Illinoise University Athletics
Southern Illinois University
William Woods (Exhibition)
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | F |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| William Woods | 11 | 11 | 20 | 16 | 58 |
| Southern Illinois | 26 | 11 | 23 | 18 | 78 |
Women's Basketball wins exhibition opener over William Woods
10/27/2016 | 10:29:00 | Women's Basketball
CARBONDALE, Ill. – The Southern Illinois women's basketball team cruised to a 78-58 exhibition victory over William Woods University (Mo.) Thursday night in their first of two tune-ups before its season opener at Oklahoma on Nov. 13.
11 of the 12 Salukis that played scored, including a game-high 18 points on eight-of-nine shooting from senior forward Kim Nebo.
SIU never trailed in the contest, scoring the game's first points on a jumper by Tiajaney Hawkins and racing out to a 16-2 in the opening five minutes of play.
"It's hard when you're playing against yourself all the time to know where you're challenged," said fourth-year head coach Cindy Stein. "It's always good to have a game like this. I thought we had some great hustle plays."
The Salukis shot 46.5% (33-of-71) from the field and held the Owls to 13% shooting (2-of-15) from beyond the arc, but Southern also committed 19 fouls compared to William Woods six.
"I liked some of our effort," said Stein. "I thought we were making a lot of undisciplined errors that we need to clean up and our defense has to get a lot better."
Nebo scored five of her 18 in the first quarter, staking SIU to a 15-2 lead at the 5:07 mark of the first quarter.
William Woods got to within 11 (18-7) on a pair of made free throws with 3:43 to go in the first stanza, but freshman guard Kristen Nelson nailed a three on the next trip down the court to extend SIU's lead back to 14.
Another layup by Nebo gave SIU it's largest lead of the first half, 37-16 with 1:55 to go in the first half.
The Owls go to within 13 on four occasions in the second half, but could get no closer.
Hawkins finished with nine points and seven rebounds in her first game since returning from shoulder surgery. Junior guard Kylie Giebelhausen also finished with nine points, and added five rebounds and four assists, while Caitlyn Claussen and Nelson each added nine points.
SIU returns to action Friday, Nov. 4 when it hosts MacMurray College for its second, and final, exhibition of the 2016-17 season. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m.
