Southern Illinois University
2-1,0-0MVC
Tennessee Tech University
2-1,0-0OVC
Salukis win home opener over Golden Eagles, 76-65
11/16/2019 | 6:18:00 | Women's Basketball
Southern won its home opener for the sixth-straight season.
CARBONDALE, Ill. — Four Salukis scored in double figures to help the Southern Illinois women's basketball team win its home opener over the Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles, 76-65, Saturday afternoon inside Banterra Center.
Southern (2-1) trailed just once after the first quarter- 20-19 with 7:27 to play in the first half- and outscored the Golden Eagles, 17-5, over the final 7:27 of the first half to build a double-digit cushion. The Salukis led by as many as 17 in the second half and Tennessee Tech only cut its deficit to single-digits on three occasions, but never got to within less than nine points of the lead.
"It was good to get back on the winning track," seventh-year head coach Cindy Stein said. "I felt like we were frustrated after our IUPUI loss because we felt like our offense played well but that our defense needed to shore itself up. We did a much better job of doing that today."
The Salukis used a strong defensive effort and were dominate on the glass, out-rebounding the Golden Eagles, 46-to-32. Southern had more than three times the offensive rebounds that Tennessee Tech had (17-to-5) and held a 17-to-2 edge in second chance points.
"We feel like we have a good group that can really attack the boards," Stein said of her team's rebounding prowess. "We knew we needed to finish out the game and had a nose for the ball. We didn't want to give Tennessee Tech any reason to think they could come back."
SIU had a pair of guards set or tie career-highs in rebounds. Brittney Patrick set a new career-high with nine rebounds to go along with seven points and three assists while Makenzie Silvey tied her career-best with seven boards to go along with 13 points and a team-best four assists.
Southern's posts were instrumental in the Salukis pulling away in the second half. Nicole Martin scored 13 of her game-high 19 points in the final 20 minutes of play while Gabby Walker scored seven of her 12 points in the second half. Abby Brockmeyer added 13 points, four boards and three assists.
"All of our posts did a good job," Martin said. "Gabby came in off the bench and played well and Abby did as well. It wasn't just one of us- we all helped out."
The win for the Salukis marks their sixth-straight home-opening win and is SIU's first victory over Tennessee Tech since 2008.
SIU is back in action on Wednesday, Nov. 20 at noon for its annual Field Trip Day game against Memphis.
