Southern Illinois University
6-7,3-1MVC
Illinois State
9-5,3-1MVC
Southern falls to Illinois State to snap streak
01/07/2023 | 5:12:00 | Women's Basketball
Salukis now sit at 3-1 in the MVC
Southern Illinois and Illinois State went toe-to-toe for 40 minutes on Saturday at the Banterra Center but when the dust settled, it was the Redbirds who came away with the win to snap the Salukis winning streak at three games.
Illinois State edged SIU 59-56 after a late turnover for the Salukis gave the ball back to the Redbirds with a one-point lead before they extended the final deficit at the free-throw line.
The win for ISU marks another in the rivalry with Southern as it was the Redbirds that eliminated the Salukis from last season's Missouri Valley Conference Tournament in Moline.
Southern's loss marks the first conference defeat for Head Coach Kelly Bond-White.
"Proud of my team's fight," she said. "We had a team that's averaging almost 65-70 possessions and we pretty much controlled them with their offensive output the entire game. I thought we did an incredible job on their best player, Robinson in the first half. Laniah stepped up and Ashley stepped up guarding her.
"We wanted to cut the head off of the snake and we thought she was the head of the snake."
Even with the close loss, Bond-White doesn't count Saturday a win in any respect but she said it did plant a seed in some minds.
"No moral victories but as I told my kids, I think they put people on notice in the conference that they're for real," she said.
Ashley Jones led Southern with 12 points while Quierra Love added 11 points to go with seven steals as Love had multiple big plays throughout the game.
"Quierra does what she does," she said. "We knew Quierra would be able to disrupt their flow. Their offensive is all about timeout and we thought she could get after Wong and be disruptive and she was."
Promise Taylor (10 points and 8 rebounds) and Shemera Williams (10 points) also finished in double digits for the Salukis.
Paige Robinson led Illinois State with 15 points, six rebounds and five assists. DeAnna Wilson (12 points) and Maya Wong (11 points) also finished in double figures. Kate Bullman led all players with 14 rebounds in the Redbird win including five on the offensive end.
Bond-White said it was the boards as one area that hurt the Dawgs.
"Unforced turnovers hurt us and a lack of being physical on the block out hurt us," she said. "Those two areas, we just couldn't recover from."
After taking a brief lead in the third quarter, the Salukis went scoreless for the final 6:30 in the frame, giving ISU momentum heading to the fourth.
Southern now prepares for four-straight road games as it takes on Missouri State on Wednesday in Springfield before taking on UIC in Chicago on Saturday.
