Salukis women return home to host Eastern Illinois on Monday

Southern Illinois (1-6) vs. Eastern Illinois (3-5)
Date	Monday, Dec. 16, 2013
Time	6:05 p.m. CT
Location	Carbondale, Ill. – SIU Arena (8,339)
Video	Saluki All-Access
Radio	Saluki Sports Network
Notes	Southern Illinois  | Eastern Illinois
Season Stats	Southern Illinois | Eastern Illinois
Live Stats	Gametracker | Valley Scoreboard
Social Media	@SIU_WBasketball

By Tyler Wooten
SIUSalukis.com

CARBONDALE, Ill. — Saluki women’s basketball returns home for the first time in five games to host Eastern Illinois at the SIU Arena on Monday night, with tipoff scheduled for 6:05 p.m.

Southern Illinois Salukis (1-6)
Head Coach: Cindy Stein • First Season • 283-212 overall (17th season) • 1-6 at SIU

Eastern Illinois Panters (3-5)
Head Coach: Debbie Black • First Season • 3-5 overall (first season) • 3-5 at EIU

RADIO INFORMATION
Play-By-Play: Bryce Williams (second season)
Color Commentary: Logan Lee (first season)
Station: WVZA 105.1 FM (audio also available on Saluki All-Access)

SIU VS. EASTERN ILLINOIS
Southern leads the all-time series versus the Panthers 36-6, dating back to the first matchup in 1961. Since the Panthers joined the Ohio Valley Conference in 1996, though, the two schools have only played twice with a home-and-home in 2001 and 2002. This game will be the first time the Panthers have come to Carbondale since 2001 (W, 76-65).

SOUTHERN VS. OVC
Overall, SIU is 58-31 against teams from the Ohio Valley Conference — which includes a 2-0 mark versus Eastern Illinois since they joined in 1996. The Salukis only hold a losing record against three other teams — Tennessee Tech (10-13) and Austin Peay (1-4) and SEMO (1-5) — and hold a winning or even record with the remaining six schools: Murray State (35-5), Tennessee State (3-1), Eastern Kentucky (2-0), Western Kentucky (2-1), Middle Tennessee State (1-1) and SIU Edwardsville (1-1).

SIU 82, EIU 67 — DEC. 7, 2002
Three Salukis scored in double-figures as Southern cruised to an 82-67 victory over EIU in Charleston, Ill., on Dec. 7, 2002. SIU’s Tiffany Crutcher scored a career-high 20 points in her third consecutive game with at least 18. Jodi Heiden (18 points) and Molly McDowell (15 points) both chipped in with double-digits as well en route to Southern’s first three-game winning streak in five years. SIU began the game on a 24-11 run, and despite some impressive runs by the Panthers to cut the deficit, Southern was able to keep EIU within at least a four-point buffer the remainder of the game.

EIU 71, BRADLEY 67
Panther forward Sabina Oroszova tied two school records (points and field goals made in a single game) in EIU’s tight 71-67 victory over Bradley on Dec. 4. Oroszova scored 38 points on 16-of-29 shooting from the field, while hauling in 15 boards for the Panthers. Nearly 75 percent of EIU’s scoring came from Oroszova and guard Katlyn Payne, who added 15 points and seven boards to the effort.

REDHAWKS FLY PAST SALUKIS, 72-50
The Salukis couldn’t recover from a 15-2 Redhawk run to close the first half, and SEMO rode that momentum all the way to a 72-50 victory over SIU on Dec. 4 at the Show Me Center. Southern fell behind 18-8 to start the game, but clawed their way back in and tied Southeast 20-20 with 6:32 to play in the first half. SEMO responded with a 15-2 tear to close the half and Southern was never within 11 the remainder of the game. Azia Washington (14 points, eight rebounds, 7-of-13 FG) and Dyana Pierre (12 points, six rebounds) recorded two more excellent performances for SIU in the post, but it wasn’t enough to overcome SEMO’s 42.9 percent clip from the field.

DOMINANT DUO
Southern’s inside sophomore duo of forward Azia Washington and center Dyana Pierre have been dominant in the post for the Salukis this season. Pierre, SIU’s leading scorer at 12.6 points per game, currently leads the MVC in blocks (1.9 per game) and ranks second in rebounding (9.3) and fourth in field goal percentage (.515). Washington, who has scored in double-digits each of her last two games, ranks tied for eighth in rebounding (6.9) and ninth in field goal percentage (.462). In her last four games, Washington has shot 53.8 percent or better, and is 18-of-31 (.580) from the field.

BLOCK PARTY
Sophomore center Dyana Pierre is already within striking distance of the top-ten all-time at SIU in career blocks. After posting the fourth-most blocks in a single-season in school history in 2012-13 (36), Pierre stands within five blocks of the top-ten with 49 career blocks. Pierre currently has 13 in 2013-14 and averages 1.9 per game, right now the most in the MVC. At this pace, Pierre will notch the third-most blocks in a single-season for SIU in 2013-14 and climb up to second all-time in career blocks.

QUICK TURNAROUND
Despite SIU’s impressive post performance, Southern has lost the rebounding battle in four straight games after starting the season off by out-rebounding two of its first three opponents. After being +16 through two games, SIU has followed that up with an even performance at IPFW, -12 at Illinois, -15 at Marshall, -4 at Central Arkansas and -20 at Southeast Missouri.

STOUT DEFENSE
Southern, which came off of consecutive games of giving up more than 75 points, allowed only 37 points in a victory over the Central Arkansas Sugar Bears on Dec. 2. UCA, which was averaging 67.0 points per game entering the contest, shot 25.9 percent from the field and their best player — Courtney Deuver (13.1 PPG) — was held to three points, thanks in large part to the superb defense of Dyana Pierre (11 rebounds, six points, three blocks, three steals). The 18 points UCA scored in the second half are the fewest allowed by the Salukis since Jan. 29, 2011, when Southern allowed only 14 to Indiana State in the first half, and 37 points are the fewest given up by SIU in a single game since Dec. 10, 1988 when the Salukis held Central Michigan to 32.

UNSTOPPABLE
Sophomore center Dyana Pierre is off to an incredible start for the Salukis. Pierre currently leads Southern in scoring (12.6 PPG), rebounding (9.3 RPG), shooting (51.5 percent) and free throw attempts (34). The Port St. Lucia, Fla., native has posted a double-double in three of SIU’s seven games thus far, and in the Missouri Valley Conference she currently ranks in the top-15 in blocked shots (first, 1.9), rebounding (third), field goal percentage (fourth) and scoring (14th).

PIERRE CAN’T MISS
Sophomore Dyana Pierre has been on fire from the field in 2013-14, as she currently sits at fourth in the conference with a field goal percentage of 51.5. In a three-game stretch from Nov. 8-18, Pierre shot 19-of-28 (.679) from the field in SIU losses vs. Wright State, Austin Peay and IPFW. In seven games, Pierre has shot 50 percent or better five times. At Marshall, Pierre scored an impressive 10 consecutive Saluki points over a five-minute span. So far, Pierre has shot 35-of-68 from the field in her 31.0 minutes per game.

MACKLIN CLIMBS ALL-TIME LIST
On Nov. 18, junior guard Cartaesha Macklin became the 28th player in school history to surpass the 1,000 career point milestone with her 12-point performance at IPFW. Macklin, who currently sits at 1,031 career points, is within 62 points of cracking the top-20 all-time at SIU. Macklin will next pass Ann Kattreh for 21st all-time. Kattreh, who played at SIU from 1983-87, scored 1,060 points in her Saluki career. In two seasons at SIU, Macklin has averaged 480.0 points per season. If she were to remain on that pace, Macklin would rank fifth all-time at the end of the 2013-14 season. Thus far, Macklin is averaging 10.1 points and 3.1 assists per game — the latter of which ranks eighth in the MVC.

EASY BUCKETS FOR MACKLIN
So far in 2013-14, Macklin leads the Salukis with a 23-of-32 (.719) mark from the free throw line — which included a 10-of11 performance against Austin Peay at home on Nov. 12. In her time at Southern, Macklin has been no stranger to the free throw line. In 66 games at SIU she’s made 312 free throws in 427 tries, which both rank third all-time at SIU. Macklin is on pace to become SIU’s all-time leader in free throws made this season and be within 30 of the top-mark in free throws attempted at the end of the season.

SHORE-ING UP
Walk-on sophomore Hannah Shores has made her presence known in the first five games of the 2013-14 season. Shores, a native of nearby Centralia, Ill., has scored 5.3 points in 23.1 minutes per game in six games played and two starts. Shores earned her first career start at IPFW on Nov. 18, where she played 23 minutes and scored a career-high nine points. She is currently 5-of-13 from beyond the arc — the most three-point baskets for the Salukis.