Southern Illinois University
15-12,7-9MVC
Illinois State University
17-10,9-7MVC
Salukis fall at Illinois State, 66-56
03/01/2020 | 5:25:00 | Women's Basketball
NORMAL, Ill. — The Illinois State Redbirds used a 9-0 run in the second quarter to build a lead it never relinquished in a 66-56 win over the Southern Illinois Salukis Sunday afternoon inside Redbird Arena.
Neither team led by more than five in a back and forth first half. Southern took its largest, and last, lead of the contest on a Brittney Patrick layup that put SIU ahead 21-17 with 4:16 to play in the second quarter.
The Redbirds scored nine-straight points over the next three minutes of the contest to take the lead for good. The Salukis battled to within three on multiple occasions, including on a three-pointer by Patrick with 3:31 to play in the fourth quarter, but that was as close as they could get.
"We're playing extremely hard," seventh-year head coach Cindy Stein said. "Some of the little things we did not execute the way I would like. I told our team that we have a lot of fight and spirit but we have to execute better, especially on the offensive side. We've struggled in that area. Teams will try to take things away and we have to be able to make those adjustments."
SIU's shots in the first half just didn't fall. The Salukis shot 25.8% (8-of-31) from the field in the first 20 minutes of play and were just 1-of-16 from three-point range. Southern rebounded to shoot 44% (11-of-25) from the floor and 50% (4-of-8) from behind the arc in the second half but it was too little, too late.
"We have to continue to get better," Stein said. "We're not going to focus on the negatives. We're going to focus on how we can get better. We feel like we're fighting and scrapping and that we are in every game. We just have to have some shots go down."
The loss was a tough pill to swallow for the Salukis after they out-rebounded the Redbirds, 33-to-31, forced more turnovers (17-to-13) and held Illinois State's Tete Maggett to a season-low 10-percent (1-for-10) shooting from the field.
In fact, Southern held both of Illinois State's leading scorers to well below their averages. Maggett, who came in averaging 15.8 points per game, was limited to eight points. Lexi Wallen, Illinois State's leading scorer coming into Sunday's matchup at 17.7 points per game, was held to just five points on 1-of-2 shooting.
Brittney Patrick led the way for the Salukis, as she poured in a season-high 17 points to go along with six rebounds and five assists. Abby Brockmeyer notched her fourth double-double of the season with 11 points and 12 rebounds. Nicole Martin chipped in 10 points while Makenzie Silvey added 11 points.
With two home games remaining, the Salukis control their own destiny and can finish anywhere between sixth and eighth. With wins over Loyola and Valparaiso, Southern can avoid the play-in round on Thursday, March 12.
The Salukis will look to get back to their winning ways on Thursday, March 5 when SIU hosts on Loyola at 6 p.m.
