Women's Basketball travels to Bradley on Friday

The Southern Illinois women's basketball team travels to Peoria, Ill. Friday, Jan. 12 to tangle with the Bradley Braves. Southern has won six-straight over the Braves, and are 7-1 against Bradley under fifth-year head coach Cindy Stein. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m. and can be streamed using the WatchESPN app and can be heard on WVZA 105.1 FM.

Series History
The Salukis and the Braves will meet for the 74th time in a rivalry that dates back to 1983. Southern leads the all-time series, 48-25. SIU went a 12-year, 21-game stretch, from 1983-1995 without a loss to Bradley, running off a 36-2 record through the 2000-01 season. The Braves returned the favor winning 22 of the next 27 games. Southern has won six-straight, and seven of the last eight meetings, against Bradley which is the longest streak for the Salukis against the Braves since 1998-2001.

Current Salukis vs. the Braves
Kylie Giebelhausen, who hails from East Peoria, Ill., averages 9.5 points, 3.0 rebounds, 2.6 assists and 1.0 blocks per game in six career meetings against the Braves. She has reached double figures in three-straight games against Bradley, including 12 points and four rebounds in SIU's 66-57 win in Peoria on Jan. 27, 2017. Two seasons ago, Celina VanHyfte, who is from nearby Annawan, Ill., went off for a career-best 13 points and grabbed nine rebounds in SIU's 65-61 win at Bradley on Feb. 7, 2016.

Mom knows best
Celina VanHyfte's mom, Val, played basketball at Bradley from 1987-91 and was inducted into Bradley's Hall of Fame in 1995 after a career in which she scored 1,048 career points and is one of only two players in program history to have led the team in scoring, rebounding, assists and steals in a single season. Her 788 career rebounds remain the third-most in Bradley history.

5-0 in Conference Home Openers under Stein
The Salukis improved to 5-0 in conference home openers under head coach Cindy Stein with their 60-53 OT win over UNI on Jan. 5. Southern also made it 5-0 in conference openers under Coach Stein with its 74-62 win at Evansville on Dec. 29.

3-0 Valley Start
The Salukis' 3-0 start in MVC play marked the second time in three seasons, and the third time since the MVC began play in 1992, that SIU has started Valley play with three-straight wins. The Salukis, meanwhile, won their second-straight over the UNI Panthers at home, which marks the first time since the 1995-96 and 1996-97 seasons that the Salukis have posted back-to-back home wins over UNI.

Tied a School Record
SIU recorded a season-high 11 blocks in the 64-45 win over Indiana State on Dec. 31, with six different Salukis tallying at least one block. SIU's 11 blocked shots tied the school record for most blocks in a game, set just over 18 years ago on Dec. 29, 1999 at Indiana State when Southern also recorded 11 blocks. It's the most blocked shots by a Valley team this season, and marks just the fourth time in program history that SIU has turned aside 10-plus shots, all of which have come during league play.

Nice to see you again
Andrea Gorski spent three seasons, from 2013-16, as SIU's associate head coach under Cindy Stein. She was part of the largest single-season turnaround in program history, as well as SIU's first postseason appearance since 2007. As a player, Gorski was winless (0-9) against the Salukis, as she ran up against some of the best teams in Saluki history, which included the 1991-92 Salukis that won the program's second-ever NCAA Tournament game. Cindy Stein was also an assistant coach at Bradley from 1988-93.

Battle for Illinois
The Southern Illinois men's and women's basketball teams will compete with three in-state schools for a trophy and bragging rights in a new rivalry series called the Battle for Illinois. The men's and women's basketball teams for the four universities will accrue points through head-to-head competition. One point will be awarded for each win, and each school can earn up to 12 points. In the event of a tie, the following will determine the Battle for Illinois winner: 1) Head-to-head record of the two or more teams that are tied; 2) overall regular-season record (conference and non-conference); 3) combined tournament wins; 4) average margin of victory (rivalry series games).

Kylie Giebelhausen continues to climb the school's all-time rankings in several notable categories:

Giebelhausen made her 400th career field goal against Drake on Jan. 7 and became the 23rd Saluki to make at least 400 career field goals in a career. She's tied with Molly McDowell for 22nd all-time.
The East Peoria, Ill. native is 9 rebounds shy of 500 for her career. Should she reach 500 career rebounds, she will become the 23rd Saluki to do so, and the first since Azia Washington and Cartaesha Macklin each joined the club during the 2015-16 season.
Giebelhausen's next steal will be the 118th of her career and she will break a tie with Kristine Abramowski (1997-01) for 16th on SIU's all-time list. With three steals she can pass Kelly Firth (1989-93) for 15th all-time.
- Giebelhausen's 1118 career points are the 22nd-most in school history and with 10 points she can pass Jeri Hoffman (1975-79) for 21st all-time. With 11 points Giebelhausen will pass Nikki Gilmore (1992-96) for 20th and she is 17 points shy of moving past Theia Hudson for 19th on SIU's all-time list. Her 1118 career points are the the third-most in the MVC and rank her 141st among active NCAA DI student-athletes.
- Giebelhausen is one of only four players in program history to play 3500-plus career minutes and is 15 minutes shy of passing Angie Rougeau (1989-93) for third on SIU's all-time minutes played list. Rougeau played 3,572 career minutes in 120 career games while Giebelhausen has played 3,558 minutes in 109 career games. Giebelhausen's career average of 32.6 minutes per game sit just below Rishonda Napier's school record of 32.8 minutes per game.
- 54.75% of Giebelhausen's 400 career field goals have been three-pointers, which is the highest average amongst Salukis who have made at least 400 career field goals. Of players who have made at least 100 career three-pointers, Karrie Redeker's (1988-92) 62.6% career field goals being three-pointers is the highest. Jordyn Courier (2011-14) is second at 62.2%.

Ranked Nationally Amongst Freshmen
Abby Brockmeyer is averaging 1.13 blocks per game, which is second to Kaylan Hoffman of Evansville for the most by a freshmen in the MVC. Not only does she rank second in the league amongst freshmen for blocked shots, but she is tied for 28th nationally among freshmen in the category.

Top-3 defensively
The Salukis rank top-three in the league in both blocks and steals. Southern is averaging 4.2 blocks per game, the second-most in the MVC, and 7.4 steals per game, the third-most in the Valley this season. SIU finished eighth in the league in blocks (3.0) and ninth in steals (6.6) a year ago.

10-5-5
Makenzie Silvey finished with 13 points, five assists and five steals against Drake on Jan. 5, becoming the first Saluki in in nearly three years to accomplish the feat. Rishonda Napier tallied 23 points, eight assists, seven rebounds and six steals in SIU's 76-58 win over Indiana State on Feb. 15, 2015.

Defensive Stopper
Rachel Pudlowski has emerged as a defensive stopper for the Salukis, as she's appeared in all 15 games and is averaging 12.2 minutes per game. Pudlowski tied a career-best with two steals and recorded her first career block in 13 minutes off the bench in the win over UNI and followed with a block and two assists in 13 minutes against Drake on Jan. 7.

Silvey in double figures
Makenzie Silvey set a career-best with 17 points in the OT win over UNI and followed with 13 points against Drake on Sunday. It marked the third-straight game, and the eight time this season, that Silvey has reached double figures. Silvey is tied with Angela Tolbert (1999-00) for 15th on SIU's 10-plus point games by a freshman. Should she score in double figures against Bradley, she would move into a four-way tie with Kylie Giebelhausen, Alexus Patterson and Racquel Ransom for the 12th-most double digit scoring outputs during a freshman season in program history.

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Players Mentioned

Abby Brockmeyer

Kylie Giebelhausen

Cartaesha Macklin

Rishonda Napier

Rachel Pudlowski

Makenzie Silvey

Celina VanHyfte

Azia Washington

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