Salukis open pivotal road swing at Indiana State on Thursday

The Southern Illinois University women's basketball team opens its final road swing of the 2019 season on Thursday at Indiana State. The Salukis are currently in a three-way battle for the sixth seed at next weekend's MVC tournament. With a win Thursday night, SIU can lock up the sixth seed. Tip-off against the Sycamores is set for 6 p.m. CT and can be heard locally on MAGIC 95.1 FM and can be streamed on ESPN+.

All-Time vs. the Sycamores

• The Salukis and the Sycamores meet for the 95th time in a series that dates back to the 1968-69 season.
• SIU has won eight of the last 10 meetings and lead the all-time series 48-46.
• Last season, SIU beat Indiana State three times and it marked the first time since the 1995-96 season that the Salukis have beat the same team three times in a single-season.
• The last time that the Salukis played at the Hulman Center they tied the school record for blocked shots, set in 1999, with 11 in a 64-45 win over the Sycamores on Dec. 31, 2017.
• Indiana State squeaked out a win in the first meeting between the two teams this season.

Last Time vs. the Sycamores

Indiana State 61, SIU 58 - Jan. 6, 2019
• The Indiana State Sycamores handed the Salukis their first home loss of the season on Jan. 6.
• Southern led by as many as nine but struggled offensively late in the contest, which included just 4-of-14 shooting in the fourth quarter. Indiana State, meanwhile, shot 50% (7-of-14) from the floor in the fourth and enjoyed a significant advantage on the glass.
• The Sycamores out-rebounded the Salukis, 43-to-33, to snap SIU's four-game winning streak over Indiana State.
• Nicole Martin had a career night for the Salukis in the loss. The junior forward played a career-high 39 minutes and responded with a career-best 26 points on 10-of-18 shooting to go along with six rebounds, an assist, a steal and a block.

Current Salukis vs. the Sycamores

• Abby Brockmeyer is averaging 10.5 points on 57.1% (12-of-21) shooting to go along with 7.5 rebounds and 1.3 blocks against the Sycamores in four previous meetings. Brockmeyer finished with 11 rebounds, three points and two assists in SIU's loss to Indiana State on Jan. 6.
• It marked the first time in Brockmeyer's young career that she has not reached double figures against the Sycamores.
• Nicole Martin is averaging 10.0 points and 5.5 rebounds per game in six career meetings against Indiana State.
• Makenzie Silvey is averaging 10.5 points, 3.0 assists and 2.8 rebounds in four career meetings versus the Sycamores.
• Silvey has reached double figures in three of her four career games against Indiana State, including 10 points, five assists and five steals in the loss to Indiana State earlier this season.
• Kristen Nelson scored 13 points and dished out four assists against the Sycamores on Jan. 6. It is one of nine times this season that the Farmington, Mich. native has scored in double figures.

Tournament Seeding Implications

• With a win over Indiana State on Thursday, SIU can shore up the sixth seed at next week's MVC Tournament and avoid the dreaded Thursday night play-in games.
• If Southern loses to Indiana State, they would need a Sycamore loss to Missouri State Saturday and a win over Evansville to seal up the sixth seed.
• SIU holds the tiebreaker over Loyola, so even in a scenario where the Ramblers beat Valparaiso and both SIU and Indiana State split their two games this weekend, Southern would get the sixth seed.

RPI

• The Missouri Valley Conference has six teams with Top-165 RPIs, according to warrennolan.com.
• Drake sits at No. 22, while Missouri State is No. 65. UNI is No. 87, while Bradley (No. 156), SIU (No. 160), and Illinois State (No. 161) are all in the Top-165.

Inching Closer

• Nicole Martin scored 12 of her 18 points in the fourth quarter against Northern Iowa on Sunday and inched closer to becoming the seventh-active Missouri Valley Conference player to join the 1,000 career points club.
• The 2019 Preseason All-MVC selection sits at 984 career points and would become the 26th Saluki to reach 1,000 career points and just the ninth to do so during their junior season.

Winning the Boards

• The Salukis have won the battle of the boards in four-straight games, their second-longest streak of the season.
• Southern has out-rebounded foes by an average of 12 rebounds during the stretch, which included a +14 rebounding margin against UNI on Sunday.
• Two Salukis, Abby Brockmeyer (3rd, 8.1/game) and Nicole Martin (6th, 7.3/game) rank in the top-10 in the league in rebounding.

Mak Attack

• Makenzie Silvey has scored in double figures in seven-straight games, her third streak of five-plus games in double figures this season.
• 48% of Silvey's 392 points this season have come from behind the arc, as her 115 career three-pointers are already the seventh-most in school history, while her 63 treys this season are the second-most by a sophomore in program history.
• Her 63 threes are also second to Bradley's Gabi Haack (65) for most in the Valley this season.
• Silvey is eight points shy of becoming the sixth Saluki to score 400 points during their sophomore season and the first since Rishonda Napier did so in 2015.
• The Glen Carbon, Ill. native is only 9 threes shy of the school record for most treys by a sophomore. Teri Oliver made 71 as a sophomore during the 2011 season.

Welcome Back

• Abby Brockmeyer made her first start since Feb. 8 against Northern Iowa on Sunday and turned in her eighth double-double of the season, and 13th of her career, with 17 points and 13 rebounds.
• Her eight double-doubles are tied with Bridgett Bonds (1985) for the third-most by a sophomore in school history and are the 17th-most in any season in program history.
• Against the Panthers on March 3, Brockmeyer set career-bests in offensive rebounds (8), free throws made (13) and free throws attempted (16).
• Brockmeyer's 13 free throws made are the third-most in a game in program history and the most since Molly McDowell made a school record 17 freebies against Wichita State on Nov. 13, 2001.
• Her 16 free throw attempts, meanwhile, were the second-most in a game in school history and the most since McDowell's 19 attempts in 2001.
• The Raymond, Ill. native enters the weekend just seven points shy of 600 for her career.

Holding Down the Point

• Brittney Patrick currently leads the Valley in assist-to-turnover ratio (2.11).
• Patrick's 5.1 assists per game also leads the MVC while she also leads the league in total assists (139).
• SIU has only once had a player lead the league in assists per game (Cartaesha Macklin, 2013) and Patrick's 2.11 assist-to-turnover ratio is just shy of Rishonda Napier's school record of 2.16.
• 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.
• Patrick is two assists shy of 250 for her career and would become the 19th Saluki with 250 career assists.
• Patrick has handed out five-plus assists in more than one-half (14-of-27) of SIU's games this season.
• SIU is 5-0 this season when Patrick dishes out eight or more assists.

Cleaning the offensive glass

• The Salukis grabbed 21 offensive rebounds against the UNI Panthers on March 3.
• It marked the fourth time this season that Southern has snagged 20-plus offensive rebounds and the third time it has done so in Missouri Valley Conference play this season.
• Southern ranks third in the Valley in offensive rebounds per game (13.2) and has two players ranked in the top-3 individually in the category.
• Abby Brockmeyer's 2.8 offensive boards per game are second to Chelsea Brackmann's 3.4/game, while Nicole Martin ranks third with a 2.5 o-boards per game average.

Double-Doubles

• Nicole Martin recorded her sixth double-double of the season at Loyola, which is second on the team to Abby Brockmeyer's 8 double-doubles.
• It marks just the third time in program history (dating back to 1979) that two or more Salukis have had 6-plus double-doubles in the same season and the first time in four years.
• Sue Faber (11), Char Warring (8) and Connie Price (8) accomplished the feat first during the 1981-82 season while Dyana Pierre (16) and Azia Washington (6) most recently did so during the 2014-15 season.

Getting to the Line

• Southern shot 88.5% (23-of-26) from the charity stripe against the Panthers on March 3, which was the best SIU has shot with 20-plus attempts this season.
• In fact, it was the best that Southern has shot from the charity stripe (mini. 25 attempts) since the Salukis made 88.9% (24-of-27) in a 82-61 win over South Alabama on Nov. 25, 2005.

Looking to make it three-straight road wins

• The Salukis won back-to-back road games for the first time this season with wins at Loyola and Valparaiso two weekends ago.
• Southern is looking for its first three-game road win streak since winning four-straight road games from Dec. 2, 2017 to Jan. 12, 2018.

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Players Mentioned

Abby Brockmeyer

Nicole Martin

Rishonda Napier

Kristen Nelson

Brittney Patrick

Makenzie Silvey

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