SIU ended its 16-game losing streak with a 83-74 win over No. 7 Evansville but suffered a record 60-43 loss against No. 2 Creighton to finish its season.

The Salukis (5-26, 1-17 Missouri Valley Conference) entered the MVC Tournament as the No. 10 seed and were the underdogs heading into their matchup against No. 7 Evansville (9-21, 7-11 MVC).

Sophomore guard Cartaesha Macklin gave the Salukis momentum to start the game and scored seven of the team’s 9 points in the first three minutes, for a 9-4 SIU lead. The Salukis were held scoreless for the next seven minutes, which gave the Purple Aces a 12-9 lead. The rest of the first half was back-and-forth until a late 10-2 Saluki run in its final three minutes for a 29-22 SIU lead.

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Macklin said the shots just came easy for her.

“It was just one of those nights that (your opponent) has no answer to,” she said. “Everything I shot was going in, even the outside shots. It just made the whole team better, and I know when I am playing my ‘A’ game it just seems to trigger everyone else.”

The Salukis extended their lead to 10 points in the 12 minutes after the half. The lead seemed out of reach for the Purple Aces until a 17-5 run closed the Salukis lead to 1 point. Evansville continued to score until the team led 68-65 with just 22 seconds left in the game.

Macklin then hit the night’s biggest shot, a 3-pointer to tie the game and send it into overtime.

Macklin said, she was ready for the shot despite being nervous.

“In the moment, I was really just shocked,” Macklin said. “(Coach Adrianne Harlow) drew up the play for me and I was like, ‘Oh gosh, the whole team is relying on me right now, so I have to be completely confident in myself.’ The defender backed off, and I was completely confident in my shot … It went in, and I was jittery, but I was just so hyped.”

Macklin said the team fed off of the energy in overtime, which helped SIU get an advantage on Evansville. Her and freshman guard Rishonda Napier’s 10 combined overtime points helped to secure the win.

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The victory also marked the first win in the MVC tournament for the women’s basketball team in six years.

Harlow said the win was a goal they set coming into the tournament.

“I think it was good for their confidence going into next year,” she said. “It will help them become a better team in the future.”

As good as the Salukis played Thursday, they could not play Cinderella in the tournament against No. 2 Creighton. The Salukis’ first-half offense in the was non-existent and they were outscored 31-9 in the first half. The low score marks a program low in the first half of play.

Macklin found trouble with Creighton’s defense all night as the team held her to just one basket in the game.

Napier tried her best to keep the Salukis in the game and scored a game-high 20 points on the night. Her performance helped bring the lead down to 13 with seven and a half minutes left in the game.

Napier said she gave the game everything she had.

“I was just going out there and trying to play hard,” she said. “I was just trying to play every second like it could be our last. Our coach told us these 40 minutes you just have to leave it all on the floor.”

Napier was the only Saluki with more than 8 points in the game. The loss ended a season with a 16-game losing streak, a head-coach change and an end to a post-season win drought.

Napier said teams gained experience over this season will help it grow.

“All the good and all the bad that I learned from this year has to go forward into next year,” she said. “Learning from our mistakes, learning from what we did right — you learn a lot from losing, I’d much rather learn from a win than a loss, but losing definitely teaches you things like how to stay mentally strong.”