CARBONDALE, Ill. — Illinois took advantage of an early lead over the Salukis and never let go as Southern Illinois fell to the Illini, 86-42, at SIU Arena on Saturday afternoon.
The Illini (7-2, 0-0 Big Ten) were in control over the Salukis (4-2, 0-0 MVC) in the first half, jumping out to a 7-0 lead before Southern scored its first points at the 14:53 mark. Illinois’ 2-2-1 trap zone wreaked havoc on what was, entering today, a highly efficient Saluki offense. The Illini defense forced 14 first half turnovers and held SIU to 15 points on 17.9 percent shooting in the opening frame en route to a 57-15 difference at the break — spurred by a 39-6 run over the last 11:52.
Southern showed some signs of life in the second half, though, which only ended up 29-27 in the Illini’s favor. Much of SIU’s success in the second half came from the bench, which scored 14 of its 17 points in the game in the back half. Southern’s bench play helped keep the lead where it was, but it could do little else to dig into the large lead the Illini built in the first half.
“We have to stick to the fundamentals, and that’s part of the process we are in with this team,” said SIU head coach Cindy Stein. “Getting them to stick to the fundamentals and getting the snowball factor to roll the other way.”
“We just got away from what we practiced,” said redshirt sophomore point guard Rishonda Napier. “We weren’t playing Saluki basketball. We weren’t playing our game and the turnovers got to us, which made us hang our heads.”
Key to Illinois’ strategy was canceling out Preseason All-MVC center Dyana Pierre, who was double-teamed the entire game by an athletic and tall Illini defense down low. Pierre still managed seven points and seven rebounds amid the chaos, but with the added attention on Pierre and the disappearance of passing lanes in the trap zone, Southern’s offense struggled.
However, leading the way for SIU once again was Napier, who scored 18 points to make this game her sixth straight to start the season in double-digits. She had 11 of Southern’s 15 points in the first half and ended up with nearly one-third (17) of SIU’s shot attempts (56) all game.
“Rishonda does not have much fear and that’s what makes her a great point guard,” Stein said. “She was trying to make something happen and we just didn’t have a whole lot of people rolling with her. Rishonda is playing well and she is a very confident young lady but at the same time very humble. She just wants to prove that she can make her teammates better.”
The energy was high in SIU Arena today, though, as 1,975 fans took advantage of $1 tickets as part of a Pack the House promotion for the Illinois contest. Today’s attendance is the eighth-highest in Saluki women’s basketball history and the highest since 1,838 came out to see SIU take on Illinois State in 2009.
Even after today’s loss the Salukis are still riding high after a three-game home winning streak over Thanksgiving break that lead to Southern’s first 4-1 team since 1991-92. Remaining in the non-conference season are trips to Austin Peay (Dec. 13) and Morehead State (Dec. 30), a home contest against Murray State on Dec. 16, and a neutral-site trip to New Orleans to play No. 17/18 Oregon State and Toledo on Dec. 19-20.
“That was an ugly game, but I think we are going to be much better with this kind of game,” Stein said. “We aren’t used to being in this kind of situation and I think we backed down a little bit in the first half and then we finally got rolling. A lot of elements got to us but, like I said, I think we are going to be much better from experiencing this. Next time we will be able to handle it better.”
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