Thompson Buzzer-Beater Propels Salukis to Win Over UIC

Thursday, February 5

Chicago, IL

7 p.m.

Southern Illinois University

7-13,4-7MVC

UIC

10-12,5-6MVC

Southern Ill.

UIC

02/05/2026 | 10:43:00 | Women's Basketball

Box Score

By: Peter Borkowski

CHICAGO - Southern Illinois women's basketball (7-13, 4-7) kicked off a four-day road trip Thursday night with a trip to UIC (10-12, 5-6). After the Salukis dominated the first half, UIC came back to make it a close game in the closing seconds. But fortunately for the Salukis, Jeniah Thompson grabbed a late, offensive rebound and scored on the putback to beat the buzzer and secure SIU the 55-53 win.

"Give credit to our kids for being resilient," says head coach Kelly Bond-White. "You know what? It's ugly, but we'll take the win. I'm proud of some of our kids for stepping in and just trying to hold the ship and pull out the win."

Inside the Box Score

Alayna Kraus led Southern scorers with 18 points, shooting an efficient 9-16 from the field. She also dished out four assists.
In addition to her game-winner, Thompson eight points while snagging seven rebounds.
Tkiyah Nelson passed out a game-high six assists.

How it Happened

First Quarter
Both squads score within the opening 70 seconds, but Kraus' second bucket of the game at 8:40 gave Southern the lead. After over two minutes without a bucket, Kynnedi Davis extended SIU's lead to 6-2 with just over six minutes left in the quarter.

The next make of the match came in the form of a Kayla Cooper three at 4:22 to bump the Salukis' advantage up to seven points. UIC hit a layup to pull within five, but Tkiyah Nelson responded with a layup of her own to make it 11-4 at the 3:39 mark.

Two free-throw makes from Indya Green just under the two-minute mark kicked off a six-point run to end the quarter by the Salukis, extending their lead to 17-4 going into the first break.

Second Quarter
Green opened the second quarter with a made jumper. Following that, the teams began to trade buckets until a three by Cooper at 4:20 made it 26-7. A seven-point spree by the Flames eventually cut SIU's lead down to 12, 26-14. But a layup and made free-throw by Green in the final minute of the half set the score at 29-14 as the teams left the court for halftime.

Third Quarter
UIC came out of halftime firing, scoring the first five points to cut Southern's lead down to 10. Kraus hit a jumper at 6:10 to get SIU's lead back up to 12, but another big run from the Flames, this one a 6-0 spree, pulled the home team with six points.

With just over three minutes to play in the frame, Jeniah Thompson hit two shots on both sides of a UIC free-throw make to bump the Saluki advantage back up to nine. Two free throws and a layup once again brought the Flames within five of SIU, but a layup by Nelson built SIU a 37-30 lead with just over a minute remaining in the third.

Southern added one more bucket in the final 60 seconds to take a 39-30 lead into the final 10 minutes of regulation.

Fourth Quarter
The first five points of the final quarter belonged to UIC, who pulled within four of the Salukis. Kraus hit a shot to push the lead back up to six, but five straight from the Flames made the difference just one point.

Following a Green layup, a 6-0 run gave UIC their first lead of the night, 46-43. After the score grew to 48-45 with 2:23 left, a Davis jumper and then three straight Kraus makes put Southern back in front, 53-48. A three and layup from UIC evened things up at 53-53, until Thompson grabbed a rebound and put it back up and through the hoop for a buzzer-beater and Southern win.

Up Next
SIU concludes their roadtrip on Saturday, Feb. 7, with a 1 p.m. match at Valparaiso.