Oliver makes history, SIU loses to Wichita

Oliver makes history, SIU loses to Wichita

By Brandon Willingham

Junior guard Teri Oliver tied the SIU single-season record for most 3-pointers in SIU’s loss to Wichita State.

The Salukis (7-19, 3-12 Missouri Valley Conference) fell short Friday in their biggest loss of the season, losing 74-46. Despite the loss, Oliver hit four 3-pointers in the game to total 79 for the season.

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In the next game against Missouri State, Oliver broke SIU’s record of 79 3-pointers by making her 80th and 81st shots.

The previous record was set by alumna Cari Hassel during the 1994-95 season.

Oliver now ranks 16th in MVC history with 220 career 3-point shots.

Oliver ranks seventh nationally with an average of 3.1 made 3-pointers per game.

She shot four of 11 from field goals in the Wichita loss, where she scored 12 points and grabbed seven rebounds against the Shockers.

Oliver said it’s good to be a part of the school’s history with other former athletes, but she said the team didn’t play with 100 percent effort Friday, which contributed to the loss.

“I spent a lot of time over the summer and before and after practice working on my jump shot,” Oliver said. “I feel like we could have given more effort because we didn’t play a full 40 minutes.”

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With a few games left in the season, Oliver said the team has progressed this season and hopes to do well in the State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Tournament in March.

Freshman point guard Cartaesha Macklin led the Salukis with a double-double of 25 points and 11 rebounds. Both Macklin and Oliver are the third duo in SIU history to score 400 points each in a season.

Macklin said she congratulated Oliver on her success as one of SIU’s dominate 3-point shooters, but Macklin said the team didn’t play adequate defense against the Shockers, nor did it take open opportunities offensively.

“Defensively, we defended poorly,” Macklin said. “We got into early foul trouble from bad calls (because of) laziness. Offensively, we got looks but weren’t knocking them down. At times, we weren’t taking care of the ball and rebounding.”

Macklin said the team came out of the first half strong, but during the second half the energy was gone.

Although coach Missy Tiber praised Oliver’s achievements, her reaction to the game’s outcome was quite different. She said the team discouraged her by not taking advantage of opportunities on wide-open shots.

“We just didn’t do the things on the offensive end that we should’ve,” Tiber said.

The Salukis have three regular-season home games left. They will play Evansville at 2:05 p.m Sunday at the SIU Arena.

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