Friday, December 30
Carbondale, Ill.
6 PM
Southern Illinois University
7-5, 1-0MVC
73
vs
57
Loyola
1-11, 0-1MVC
1
2
3
4
F
Loyola Chicago
11
16
12
18
57
Southern Illinois
18
13
16
26
73
Photo by: Will Becque
Women’s Basketball Runs Away with 73-57 win over Loyola
12/30/2016 | 10:00:00 | Women's Basketball
The Salukis win their conference opener for the fourth-straight season.
CARBONDALE, Ill. – Five Salukis scored in double figures to help Southern Illinois run away from the Loyola Ramblers, 73-57, Friday night inside SIU Arena.
It was a wire-to-wire win for the Salukis (7-5, 1-0 MVC), who open Missouri Valley Conference play with a victory for the fourth-straight season under head coach Cindy Stein. It had been nearly 20 years, since 1993-97, that the Salukis have won four-straight MVC openers before tonight.
The Ramblers (1-11, 0-1 MVC) did their best to slow the tempo and take SIU out of its rhythm, but Southern's bench provided the necessary spark that ignited the Saluki offense.
"Loyola was trying to keep the game fairly slow," said Stein. "That's obviously not our tempo. We needed to push the tempo a little bit, but telling our kids to do it and getting them to do it was two different things tonight. But I felt like we finally got there. We had some really good play, Tiajaney Hawkins came in and provided really good energy, as did Olivia Bowling, and that got everyone else going."
Hawkins finished with a career-best 14 points on 7-for-7 shooting in 15 minutes off the bench. 12 of her 14 points came in the second half as she helped the Salukis outscore the Ramblers, 42-30 during that stretch.
"Tiajaney is one of those young ladies that provides energy," said Stein. "She's a competitor who plays really hard and wants to do the right thing. I think she's going to get better and better when she gets more comfortable because she's still thinking about where she needs to be, and once that leaves her and she knows where to be, she will be ten times better. Very excited about her play."
Rishonda Napier led the Salukis with 20 points on 7-of-11 shooting, including 4-of-5 from 3-point range, and added six assists and four rebounds. Kim Nebo tallied her sixth career double-double, as she finished with 10 points and 11 rebounds. The Katy, Texas native was instrumental in helping SIU outrebound Loyola, 42-to-22.
"Coach told me before the game to keep going to the boards. Every shot that went up, I was trying to get the rebound," said Nebo.
Carlie Corrigan shot 50% (3-of-6) from downtown and finished with 11 points, while Kylie Giebelhausen added 10 points, five boards and four assists.
The Salukis shot 53.4% (31-of-58) from the field, including 9-of-19 (47.4%) from beyond the arc, marking the second time this season that SIU has shot 50% or better from the floor. The Salukis also held the Ramblers to 0-for-9 from three-point range.
Loyola (1-11, 0-1 MVC) got to within one, 26-25, late in the second quarter before a 3-ball by Napier pushed SIU's advantage to four heading into the half. That was as close as the Ramblers got, as the Salukis opened the second half on a 6-0 run and never looked back.
Southern Illinois returns to action Sunday when it hosts Indiana State. Tip-off against the Sycamores is slated for 1 p.m.
It was a wire-to-wire win for the Salukis (7-5, 1-0 MVC), who open Missouri Valley Conference play with a victory for the fourth-straight season under head coach Cindy Stein. It had been nearly 20 years, since 1993-97, that the Salukis have won four-straight MVC openers before tonight.
The Ramblers (1-11, 0-1 MVC) did their best to slow the tempo and take SIU out of its rhythm, but Southern's bench provided the necessary spark that ignited the Saluki offense.
"Loyola was trying to keep the game fairly slow," said Stein. "That's obviously not our tempo. We needed to push the tempo a little bit, but telling our kids to do it and getting them to do it was two different things tonight. But I felt like we finally got there. We had some really good play, Tiajaney Hawkins came in and provided really good energy, as did Olivia Bowling, and that got everyone else going."
Hawkins finished with a career-best 14 points on 7-for-7 shooting in 15 minutes off the bench. 12 of her 14 points came in the second half as she helped the Salukis outscore the Ramblers, 42-30 during that stretch.
"Tiajaney is one of those young ladies that provides energy," said Stein. "She's a competitor who plays really hard and wants to do the right thing. I think she's going to get better and better when she gets more comfortable because she's still thinking about where she needs to be, and once that leaves her and she knows where to be, she will be ten times better. Very excited about her play."
Rishonda Napier led the Salukis with 20 points on 7-of-11 shooting, including 4-of-5 from 3-point range, and added six assists and four rebounds. Kim Nebo tallied her sixth career double-double, as she finished with 10 points and 11 rebounds. The Katy, Texas native was instrumental in helping SIU outrebound Loyola, 42-to-22.
"Coach told me before the game to keep going to the boards. Every shot that went up, I was trying to get the rebound," said Nebo.
Carlie Corrigan shot 50% (3-of-6) from downtown and finished with 11 points, while Kylie Giebelhausen added 10 points, five boards and four assists.
The Salukis shot 53.4% (31-of-58) from the field, including 9-of-19 (47.4%) from beyond the arc, marking the second time this season that SIU has shot 50% or better from the floor. The Salukis also held the Ramblers to 0-for-9 from three-point range.
Loyola (1-11, 0-1 MVC) got to within one, 26-25, late in the second quarter before a 3-ball by Napier pushed SIU's advantage to four heading into the half. That was as close as the Ramblers got, as the Salukis opened the second half on a 6-0 run and never looked back.
Southern Illinois returns to action Sunday when it hosts Indiana State. Tip-off against the Sycamores is slated for 1 p.m.
Team Stats
LOY
SIU
FG%
.407
.534
3FG%
.000
.474
FT%
.818
.667
RB
22
42
TO
7
15
STL
9
3
Game Leaders
Scoring
Pts
20
FGM
7
3FGM
4
FTM
2
Pts
14
FGM
7
3FGM
0
FTM
0
Pts
11
FGM
4
3FGM
3
FTM
0
Players Mentioned
G
/ Women's BasketballG/F
/ Women's Basketball
G
/ Women's BasketballG/F
/ Women's BasketballPG
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