Southern Illinois University
8-12,5-10MVC
Valparaiso University
10-10,6-7MVC
Salukis drop overtime heartbreaker to Valpo
02/28/2021 | 8:17:00 | Women's Basketball
CARBONDALE, Ill. — Three Salukis scored in double figures but it wasn't enough as Valparaiso rallied for a 70-63 overtime win over the Southern Illinois Salukis Sunday evening inside Banterra Center.
The Salukis led by as many as 13 in the first half and were ahead by eight heading into the fourth quarter, but pesky Valpo chipped away, doing most of their work at the charity stripe. The Brown and Gold shot nearly as many free throws in the fourth quarter and overtime periods (20) as the Salukis did during the entire game (22).
After Valparaiso used a late push to send the game to overtime, Southern's Gabby Walker drew a questionable fifth foul just :22 seconds into overtime. Walker, who drew 12 of the 22 fouls that Valpo was called for, was a problem in the post all game. She put up a career-high 20 points against Valpo on Saturday and followed with 15 points and five boards on Sunday.
With Walker on the bench, SIU's offense sputtered, as it connected for just 3-of-8 of its attempts. Valpo, on the other hand, was 3-of-4 from the field and 6-of-10 from the charity stripe in the extra frame.
"I feel bad for our kids," head coach Cindy Stein said. "It was a very hard-fought game that I felt they deserved to win. I'll be honest I felt like a lot of things were taken away from us. There was a lot of adversity that we had to fight through with all that was going on. Our kids worked their butts off. Gabby Walker should never have fouled out. She was doing a great job and was obviously difficult to guard. Makenzie Silvey also played well.
Southern had its chances. After Shay Frederick drove to the basket to the tie the game, 57-all with :11 to play, SIU inbounded with a chance to win but ultimately couldn't get a good look to put the game to bed. McCallister's desperation heave clanged off the iron and Valpo's once faded heartbeat was suddenly alive and pumping.
"There was some execution we needed to clean up especially at the end of regulation and overtime kinda got away from us," Stein said. "Things didn't go our way and we have to be able to handle that better. But for the most part, I feel bad for our kids. I know they worked their butts off and it was a real gritty performance on their part."
The Salukis took their largest lead of the second half at 47-38 with 8:13 to play in the fourth. Valparaiso used an 11-2 run over the next four minutes of play to tie the contest at 49-all with 4:44 to go in regulation. Southern continued to turn to Walker, who put the Salukis back ahead with four-straight free throws over the next two minutes. The St. Charles, Mo. native scored nine of SIU's 11 points in the fourth quarter and went 7-for-10 from the charity stripe in the period.
Valparaiso didn't go away quietly, as Frederick knocked down one of two free throws to cut SIU's lead to two, 57-55 with :41 to go and the Brown and Gold again went back to Frederick for tying basket on a driving layup with :11 to play. The two sides went to overtime after Southern came up empty on its final possession.
With the momentum of having forced overtime on its side, Valpo scored the first six points of the extra frame and never let the Salukis get any closer than four.
Silvey recorded the first double-double of her stellar career in the loss. The two-time All-MVC selection tallied 19 points and a career-best 10 rebounds in 43 minutes of work. Rachel Pudlowski was close to a double-double of her own as she finished with eight points and seven boards while Payton McCallister added 12 points, four boards and two assists.
The Salukis will close out the 2020-21 regular season next weekend when they host the Northern Iowa Panthers. Tip-off is at 4 p.m. on both Friday and Saturday.
