SIU women lose big to Evansville

By John Lock
SIUSalukis.com

EVANSVILLE, Ind. – The Southern Illinois women’s basketball team lost to Evansville on Sunday afternoon at the Ford Center, 67-31. Southern’s offense went silent in the second half, allowing Evansville to turn a four-point game at halftime into a 36-point blowout.

“We couldn’t get any offensive execution,” head coach Cindy Stein said. “We tried zone plays; we tried specials; we tried man-to-man plays. We just could not get any continuity with our team.”

The teams played a back-and-forth first half, with neither team leading by more than five points throughout the half. Just as it appeared Southern (4-21, 2-12 MVC) would draw within two at halftime, Evansville ran the floor in three seconds to get a layup at the first-half buzzer. SIU trailed the Aces 27-23 at the break.

But, in what has become a familiar refrain, the Saluki offense went silent in the second half. Southern scored just eight points in the second half on 2-for-22 shooting and had a program-low 31 points for the game.

SIU’s defense played well at times, including two four-minute stretches without allowing an Evansville point. In the first half, Southern’s defense held the Aces to 37 percent shooting and 1-for-8 from the 3-point line. Southern forced Sara Dickey, the second-leading scorer in the MVC, to take 18 shots to get 18 points.

“Defensively, we did the things in the first half that we wanted to,” Stein said. “Unfortunately, our frustrations on the offensive end in the second half led to a lot of issues on offense.”

Evansville used a full-court press for all 40 minutes. SIU committed 26 turnovers and had more turnovers than its opponent for a seventh straight game. Every player except Jordyn Courier committed at least one turnover. Courier led the Salukis with 11 points and recorded her 100th career 3-pointer early in the game, which ranks seventh in school history.

When SIU broke the press, Evansville’s 2-3 zone shut down the Salukis in the halfcourt. After a flurry of touches in the opening minutes, Dyana Pierre only attempted three shots over the final 35 minutes. SIU, who is the worst 3-point shooting team in the MVC at 22 percent, shot 17 3-pointers for the game, making only three.

Hannah Shores led the team in rebounding, securing a career-high seven boards. Azia Washington had five points and five rebounds in the game’s first eight minutes but was limited to 17 minutes because of foul trouble.

The team returns home on Thursday to face Missouri State and will honorSidney Goins and Jordyn Courier for Senior Day on Saturday against Wichita State.