Women's Basketball hits the road for a matchup with Northwestern

The Southern Illinois Women's Basketball team will look to snap back-to-back losses to start the season when it hits the road for the first time this season against the Northwestern Wildcats.

The Salukis and Northwestern tip at 2 p.m. Saturday at Welsh Ryan Arena in Evanston.

Southern is coming off of a close 80-76 loss to IUPUI on Wednesday where sophomore Tyranny Brown reeled off a career-high 21 points to lead four Salukis in double digits.

Tamara Nard (13 points, 5 rebounds), Jaidynn Mason (13 points, 5 rebounds) and Aja Holmes (11 points off the bench) all had solid offensive nights against IUPUI as Mason earned her first start in just her second collegiate game.

It was a much better outcome for the Salukis as they look to take that momentum into Northwestern on Saturday.

The Wildcats are 1-2 on the year with its lone win coming over Penn (63-55) with losses to No 20 Oregon (100-57) and Notre Dame (92-58).

In their victory, Northwestern was led by Courtney Shaw's 12 points and eight rebounds as Kaylah Rainey also finished in double digits with 11 points. Caileigh Walsh (9 points, 9 rebounds) and Sydney Wood (9 points, 8 rebounds) also had productive games in the win for the Wildcats.

Northwestern has a roster of three freshmen, five sophomores, three juniors, two seniors and two graduate students.

While the roster is a mix, the head coach for the Wildcats is something that's been as steady as they come.

Joe McKeown is at the helm for his 15th season of the Northwestern women's basketball program as he's accumulated a record of 242-200 during his time. Prior to NW, McKeown was the head coach at New Mexico State and then spent two decades at George Washington.

Southern has fared well against the Big Ten in recent years going with two wins over the Power Five conference in the last several years, including a win over Illinois last season but the Salukis are 1-9 all-time against Northwestern with their lone win coming back in 1977.

SIU and Northwestern tip at 2 p.m. Saturday.