Women's Basketball hosts UNI, Drake to open three-game homestand

CARBONDALE, Ill. -- The Southern Illinois University women's basketball team returns home for three-straight contests, beginning this Friday against Northern Iowa (6 p.m.). Southern will then host the Drake Bulldogs on Sunday, Jan. 12 at 2 p.m. Both games can be heard on Magic 95.1 FM and can be viewed on ESPN+.

Promotions

• Sunday's game against Drake is National Youth Day as well as Camper Reunion Day. All kids that attending SIU's summer camps this past year will receive free admission.

All-Time Series vs. the Panthers

• The Salukis and the Panthers will meet for the 76th time Friday, with UNI holding a 41-34 advantage in the all-time series.
• UNI won all three meetings between the two teams a year ago.
• Southern's last win in the series came at home on Jan. 5, 2018- a 60-53 overtime win.

All-Time Series vs. Drake

• The Salukis and the Bulldogs will meet for the 89th time Sunday.
• Drake leads the all-time series 60-28.
• The Bulldogs have won eight-straight in the series and 12 of the last 14.
• Four of SIU's last five wins in the series have come on its home floor, including Southern's last victory over Drake - an 81-76 win on Feb. 6, 2015.

Some things never change

• The Salukis defeated the the Valparaiso Crusaders, 67-51, on Jan. 3 to open Missouri Valley Conference play.
• In doing so, SIU improved to 7-0 in conference openers under head coach Cindy Stein. SIU had lost three-straight conference openers prior to Stein's arrival in 2013 but now hold a .589% winning percentage (23-16) in conference openers since 1981-82.

Approaching a milestone

• Head coach Cindy Stein is just one win shy of 100 for her Saluki career.
• With her next win, she will join Charlotte West and Cindy Scott as the only Saluki coaches to win 100-plus games as SIU's head coach.
• Stein, the third-longest tenured head coach in the MVC, will join UNI's Tanya Warren and Drake's Jennie Baranczyk as the only active Valley coaches with 100-plus wins at their current institutions.

1000 points watch

• Makenzie Silvey is just 18 points shy of becoming the 27th player in program history to reach the 1,000-point plateau.
• The Glen Carbon, Ill. native would become just the 10th player in school history to reach the 1,000-point milestone as a junior.

Salukis at Banterra Center

• Southern is 4-1 at home this season and are 54-36 (.600) at home under seventh-year head coach Cindy Stein.
• Coming into the 2019-20 season, the Salukis have won at least eight home games in five-straight seasons, including 10 during the 2015-16 season. Southern hadn't had that type of consistent success on its home floor in over 20 years (1993-97) prior to last season.

Record through 13 games

• With Southern's opening weekend split in Valley play, the Salukis sit at 9-4 on the season.
• SIU's 9-4 record through 13 games is its best record at this point in a season since the 1993-94 season (9-4).

Running away with wins

• In SIU's nine wins this season, Southern has an average margin of victory of 17.3 points.
• Eight of SIU's nine wins have come by double-digits and all nine are by eight or more points.
• Southern had 10 wins by double-digits during the entire 2018-19 season.
• Conversely, three of Southern's four losses have come by four points or fewer.

Running the Point

• Kristen Nelson leads the Valley, and ranks 42nd nationally, in assist-to-turnover ratio (2.18).
• Brittney Patrick, who led the MVC in assist-to-turnover ratio last year with a 2.1 assist to turnover ratio, currently ranks ninth this season with a 1.3 ratio.
• Nelson's assist-to-turnover ratio would be a school record. Patrick's 2.11 ratio from 2019 was the second-best in program history.

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
2.11 - Brittney Patrick, SIU - 2018-19

In the conference-opening win over the Crusaders…

• The Salukis improved to 5-0 all-time against the Crusaders.
• SIU's 18 offensive boards are a season-high and its most since March 3, 2019.
• Southern's 46 total rebounds tied a season-best.
• SIU's +20 rebounding margin was its best since Dec. 30, 2016.
• Southern tallied seven blocks- also a season-high.

RPI

• As a conference, the MVC ranks seventh (out of 32) in RPI, ahead of the American Athletic Conference, MAC and Conference USA, among others.
• The Missouri Valley Conference has six teams with Top-100 RPIs, according to warrennolan.com.
• Missouri State ranks No. 2, while Drake sits at No. 27. UNI is No. 46 while SIU is No. 60. Illinois State (No. 82) and Loyola (No. 95) are also in the Top-100.

Former Assistant

• UNI head coach Tanya Warren was an assistant on Cindy Stein's coaching staff at Missouri, where the two coached together from 2001-04.
• During that stretch, the Tigers made the postseason all three seasons, including a trip to the NCAA Tournament during the 2003-04 season.
• Warren was 0-1 in her playing career against SIU while at Creighton, but has fared much better since taking the reins at UNI.
• Warren, the longest tenured coach in the MVC, holds an .807% winning percentage (22-5) against the Salukis.
• Four of SIU's five wins against Warren's Panthers have come during Stein's tenure as head coach.
• Warren holds a 10-5 all-time edge against her former boss dating back to Stein's days at Missouri.

December is our favorite month

• SIU went 8-1 in December over the last two seasons, which included the first perfect December in 31 years in 2018.
• The Salukis are 25-15 (.625) all-time in the month of December under seventh-year head coach Cindy Stein.

Climbing the Charts

• Nicole Martin's 1,211 career points are the 15th-most in school history. She is 61 points shy of cracking the Top-10 in program history.

13. Bridgett Bonds (1985-88) - 1,227
14. Mary Berghuis (1985-88) - 1,218
15. Nicole Martin (2017-pres.) - 1,211

• Martin, a two-time All-MVC First Team selection, is one of four current players in the Valley with 1,000 career points.

Current Valley Players w/ 1000 pts
Sara Rhine (Drake) - 1,896
Becca Hittner (Drake) - 1,791
Alexa Willard (Missouri State) - 1,282
Nicole Martin (SIU) - 1,211

1000 Point Watch

• The Salukis have a pair of juniors, Makenzie Silvey and Abby Brockmeyer, who are quickly approaching the 1,000-point milestone.
• Silvey sits at 982 career points while Brockmeyer has 772 career points. Brockmeyer became just the seventh player in program history, and first since Kylie Giebelhausen, to record 750 career points/500 rebounds/75 assists/75 blocks and 50 steals in a career.

100 Career Steals

• With her two steals against Murray State, Brittney Patrick became the 30th player in program history to reach the century mark in career steals.
• Makenzie Silvey joined Patrick in the 100-steal club with her two steals in each of SIU's wins at the Compass Challenge. With her three steals against Loyola, Nelson joined the 100 career steals club while Nicole Martin sits at 92 career steals.

300 Career Assists

• Brittney Patrick dished out her 300th career assist in the win over Western Illinois on Dec. 19. Her 316 career assists are eight shy of the Top-10 in school history.
• Patrick became just the 13th player in program history with 300 assists/100 steals in a career.

More on Patrick

• Has recorded four or more assists in five-straight games, including a season-best eight in SIU's win over Western Illinois on Dec. 19.
• She is a perfect 11-for-11 from the free throw line this season and has made 13-straight free throws dating back to last season.

All good things come to an end

• Makenzie Silvey's 22-straight games scoring in double figures came to an end agains Loyola. It was the longest streak by a Saluki since 1991.
• Silvey is averaging 17.5 points per game- which is fourth in the Valley.
• The 2019 All-MVC honorable mention selection has six 20-point games this season- which are more than she had in her career coming into this season.

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