Southern Illinois University
University of Evansville
Salukis host Purple Aces Friday to open Valley play
01/02/2019 | 12:47:00 | Women's Basketball
The Salukis have won four-straight and are 5-0 this season on their home floor.
CARBONDALE, Ill. -- The Southern Illinois University women's basketball team opens Missouri Valley Conference play against Evansville on Friday, Jan. 4 at 6 p.m. The Salukis come into the contest having won four-straight and are 5-0 at home this season.
Promotions
• Friday night is SIU's conference opener and is Southern's White Out Game! Fans are encouraged to wear white.
All-time vs. the Purple Aces
• The Salukis and the Purple Aces will meet for the 59th time Friday in a series that dates back to 1984.
• Southern took a 30-28 lead in the all-time series thanks to last season's season sweep of the Purple Aces.
• Evansville's last win in the series was on Feb. 17, 2017- a 74-61 win inside the SIU Arena.
• SIU has won two-straight over the Purple Aces and five of the last seven including a 66-41 win on March 3, 2018.
Current Salukis vs. the Purple Aces
• Abby Brockmeyer is averaging 18.5 points on 65.2% (15-of-23) shooting to go along with 12.0 rebounds, 2 blocks and 1.5 steals against Evansville in two previous meetings. She recorded double-doubles in both games against the Purple Aces last season.
• Brockmeyer tied the Saluki freshman single-game scoring record at Evansville a year ago, as she finished with a career-high 27 points to tie Cartaesha Macklin's 2011 school record.
• Nicole Martin is averaging 7.3 points and 5.0 rebounds per game in four career meetings against Evansville.
• Martin has only reached double figures once in her career against the Purple Aces- she scored 15 points in 17 minutes in last season's 66-41 win.
• Celina VanHyfte tied her career-high with 13 points in a 66-64 win at Evansville on Apr. 14, 2016. It is one of five times in her Saluki career that the Annawan, Ill. native has reached double figures.
Last Time They Met
Mar. 3, 2018
• Southern led from wire-to-wire in a 66-41 senior day win over Evansville.
• SIU tallied 13 assists to just four turnovers. It's four turnovers tied a school record low and were the fewest in a game by the Salukis in 10 years.
• Three Salukis reached double figures in the win, led by Nicole Martin. Martin scored 13 of her 15 points in the first half and added seven rebounds, three assists and a steal in 17 minutes.
This Day in Saluki WBB History
Jan. 4, 1989
• The Salukis overcame a six-point halftime deficit to down Indiana State at the buzzer, 63-62 inside ISU Arena.
• Cyd Mitchell was the hero off the bench for the Salukis. Mitchell took a pass from Dana Fitzpatrick and laid it in with :09 seconds to play to give SIU a 63-62 lead. Indiana State had a chance for the win, but its shot from 19-feet rimmed out.
• Fitzpatrick stuffed the stat sheet and finished with 12 points, five assists, five steals, four rebounds and three blocks in 38 minutes while Amy Rakers had 10 points and 11 rebounds before she fouled out with 3:15 to play in regulation.
Five-straight home wins to open a season
• With SIU's 78-73 win over IUPUI on Dec. 21, the Salukis improved to 5-0 at home on the season.
• It marks SIU's first five game home-winning streak to open a season since the 1996-97 season.
• With a win in its home conference opener, Southern can match the 1993-94 team's six-straight home wins to open a season.
• Southern has won at least nine home games in four-straight seasons, including 10 during the 2015-16 season.
• The Salukis are 46-30 (.605) at home under sixth-year head coach Cindy Stein.
Taking care of the ball
• Brittney Patrick currently leads the Valley, and ranks 14th nationally, in assist-to-turnover ratio (3.15).
• Patrick's 5.7 assists per game also leads the MVC and ranks 24th nationally while she also leads the league in total assists (63).
• Earlier this season, Patrick became the first Saluki since Cartaesha Macklin in 2013 to record at least five assists in four-straight games. During that streak, Patrick had 29 assists to just four turnovers.
More on Patrick
• SIU has only once had a player lead the league in assists per game (Cartaesha Macklin, 2013) and Patrick's 3.15 assist-to-turnover ratio would be a school record.
• Southern has only once had a player finish a season with a 2.0 or higher assist-to-turnover ratio- Rishonda Napier set a program record with 145 assists to just 67 turnovers (2.16) during the 2017 season.
• In fact, only 13 players from the Valley have finished with a 2.0 or higher assist-to-turnover ratio since the 2002-03 season.
Assist-to-Turnover Ratio in the MVC (since 2002)
2.90 - Kristi Cerone, Illinois State, 2007-08
2.89 - Madison Weekly, UNI - 2016-17
2.64 - Sharnae Lamar, UNI - 2015-16
2.60 - Kristi Cerone, Illinois State, 2008-09
2.38 - Caitlin Ingle, Drake - 2016-17
2.30 - Melanie Boeglin, Indiana St. - 2002-03
2.16 - Rishonda Napier, SIU - 2016-17
2.14 - Sammie Bachrodt, Drake - 2017-18
2.10 - Kristi Cerone, Illinois State - 2006-07
2.10 - Jen Brown, Bradley - 2005-06
2.10 - Melanie Boeglin, Indiana State - 2005-06
2.01 - Alex Harden, Wichita State - 2013-14
2.00 - Tiffany Hudson, Illinois State - 2007-08
Finding open shooters
• Brittney Patrick recorded four assists in SIU's 78-73 win over IUPUI on Dec. 21, which marked the 10th time this season that Patrick has dished out at least four assists.
• Coming into this season, Patrick had recorded 4-plus assists in 12 games during her previous two seasons.
Nelson named MVC Player of the Week
• Kristen Nelson was named the Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Week for the week of Dec. 17.
• Nelson averaged 19 points on 66.7% shooting from the floor, including a perfect 7-for-7 from behind the arc, to go along with 2.5 assists, 2.5 steals and 1.5 rebounds in SIU's two wins last week.
• Nelson poured in a career-high 24 points on a blistering 80% (8-of-10) from the field in Southern's 64-59 win over Murray State on Dec. 18. The Farmington Hills, Mich. native was a perfect 4-fo-4 from behind the arc in the win- becoming the first Saluki since 2009 to make four-straight treys without a miss.
• Nelson has scored in double figures in five-straight games. Coming into the 2018-19 season, the 5-foot-9 guard had reached double-digits in six games during her previous two seasons as a Saluki.
Double-Double Machine
• Abby Brockmeyer recorded her sixth double-double of the season with 25 points and 10 rebounds in SIU's 78-73 overtime win over IUPUI.
• Her six double-doubles this season are already the fourth-most in a sophomore season in school history and are the most in the Valley thus far this season.
• Nationally, she ranks 25th with six double-doubles. Amongst underclassmen, she ranks 7th nationally in the category.
• Brockmeyer also ranks in the top-15 in the MVC in seven statistical categories including scoring (14th, 12.9), rebounds (3rd, 8.5), field goal percentage (10th, 47.3%), blocks (6th, 1.0), offensive rebounds (3rd, 2.8), defensive rebounds (6th, 5.6) and minutes played (15th, 29.7).
RPI
• The Missouri Valley Conference currently has six teams with top-175 RPIs, according to Warrennolan.com.
• Drake leads the way at No. 10, while Northern Iowa is second at No. 74 and SIU is third at No. 118.
• Bradley (137), Missouri State (151) and Indiana State (172) round out the MVC teams with top-175 RPIs.
Working Overtime
• Southern won its fifth-straight overtime game and improved to 8-3 (.727) in overtime games under sixth-year head coach Cindy Stein with its 78-73 win over IUPUI.
• The Salukis are 28-18 (.608) all-time in overtime games since the 1974-75 season.
Winning Non-Conference Record
• With SIU's 78-73 overtime win over IUPUI on Dec. 21, the Salukis finished the non-conference portion of their 2019 schedule with a 7-4 (.636) record.
• Southern's .636 winning percentage is tied for the best winning percentage in non-conference play during the Cindy Stein era and it marks the third-best winning percentage for the Salukis in non-conference play since 1987.
First time in a while
• The Salukis finished with a season-high 13 steals and forced the IUPUI Jaguars to turn the ball over a season-high 25 times in a 78-73 overtime win over IUPUI on Dec. 21. The win marked the first for Southern over a Horizon League opponent since 2000.
5-0 in Conference Home Openers under Stein
• The Salukis are 5-0 in conference home openers under head coach Cindy Stein.
• Southern is also 5-0 in conference openers (either home/away) under Coach Stein.
A month to remember
• Southern went 4-0 in the month of December.
• It marks just the third perfect December in school history and the first since 1987.
• The 1986-87 team went 8-0 in December en route to a 28-3 record and later won a NCAA Tournament game for the first time in program history. The Salukis finished that season ranked No. 16 nationally and were the first MVC team to finish a season ranked in the AP Top-25.
• In Cindy Scott's second season at the helm of the Salukis, the 1978-79 team went 4-0 in the month of December and went on to win the IAIAW State Tournament.
