Corrigan’s sharp shooting leads SIU women’s basketball past Purdue

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Then-junior guard/forward Carlie Corrigan keeps the ball away from the defense during SIU’s victory against the Shockers on Sunday, Feb. 21, 2016 at SIU Arena. Corrigan scored five points with two rebounds and two assists, aiding the Salukis in a 80-66 victory over the Shockers. 

By Sean Carley

Saluki senior guard Carlie Corrigan’s career-high in points entering Sunday was 12. She had already set a new one by halftime against Purdue.

Corrigan put up a team-high 18 points on 7-11 shooting, leading SIU to upset Purdue, 64-61.

This is the first time SIU (2-1) has defeated a Power 5 conference school since 1993.

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It took all the Salukis had to hold off the Boilermakers, who got within one point of SIU four times in the fourth quarter as part of a comeback from a 12-point halftime deficit.

Senior guard Rishonda Napier was able to shake off another poor night shooting (1-15) to hit four big free throws at the end of the game, keeping Purdue at arm’s length of SIU.

The Boilermakers were never able to take hold of a lead in the game.

SIU was able to take control of the game from the start, using a 12-0 first-quarter run to propel themselves to a 18-4 lead.

Junior guard Kylie Giebelhausen sparked the Saluki run, scoring six of the 12 points and eight throughout the entire quarter.

Freshman forward Lauren Hartman continued her hot streak on the boards, grabbing seven in the opening quarter. She had a game-high 16 before fouling out in the fourth quarter.

Purdue was able to cut the lead to five early in the second quarter; but then Corrigan decided to take over.

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She went off for 11 points in the quarter, hitting three 3-pointers in four minutes, one of which was a buzzer-beater to send the Salukis into a 38-26 halftime lead.

As was the case in SIU’s previous game against a Power 5 school — Nov. 13 at Oklahoma — the third quarter was rough for the Salukis.

The Boilermakers were able to shoot 46.2 percent from the field and went to the free-throw stripe 12 times to get within five by the end of the period.

Senior guard Ashley Morrissette was the only Purdue player able to consistently get the ball in the basket all game, scoring a game-high 28 points.

Only one of her teammates — senior forward Bridget Perry — was able to shoot at or above 50 percent. Perry was also the only other Boilermaker in double-figures with 10 points.

SIU held the rest of the team to 19.4 percent shooting overall, including sophomore forward Dominique McBryde’s 0-10 night. She entered the game averaging 7.7 points per game, third-most on the team.

The Dawgs will try to extend their winning streak to three games at 7 p.m. Wednesday against SIU-Edwardsville in Edwardsville.

Sports editor Sean Carley can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @SCarleyDE.

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