The SIU women’s basketball team played the Illinois State Redbirds on Thursday, Jan. 20, where the Salukis came out on top, 56-47. This game came off the back of a loss to Northern Iowa last Saturday.

The first bucket of the game came just 13 seconds into the game with a layup from senior forward Abby Brockmeyer. The Salukis kept the pressure on early, going up 6-0 until the Redbirds got a basket with 6:18 left in the first quarter.

By the first media timeout of the game, with 4:34 left in the first, SIU led 8-2. The Saluki offensive scheme had been heavily utilizing Brockmeyer and senior center Gabby Walker.

After the break, Illinois State went on a 6-0 run of themselves, tying the game before Head Coach Cindy Stein called a timeout with 1:17 left on the clock to stop the run.

Senior forward Mackenzie Silvey came out of the break with a layup for her first two points of the game. Brockmeyer, Silvey, and Walker are all averaging over 10 points a game for their senior season.

It was a tie ball game, 10-10, as the first quarter came to a close.

To start the second quarter, the Dawgs gained a 16-10 lead after buckets from Brockmeyer and sophomore center Adrianna Katcher. They held this lead for about a minute until 5:01 with a bucket from Illinois State.

16-12 was the score by the second media timeout, which took place with 4:37 left in the second quarter.

The Salukis gained a nine-point lead with 1:42 left in the half after a clutch three-pointer from freshman forward Tyranny Brown. This put SIU ahead 23-14.

After a timeout from Illinois State to stop the momentum. Each team scored a bucket or two to make the score 25-18 at the break, SIU in the lead.

Brockmeyer not only had the first points to start the game, but also to start the second half, as she knocked down two free throws with 9:35 on the clock to give SIU a 27-16 lead.

Silvey knocked down a three-pointer to put the Salukis up 32-18 with 8:36 left in the third quarter. At this point in the game SIU was dominating ISU on both sides of the ball.

The Redbirds finally managed to score their first points of the second half with 5:44 on the clock. With 4:32 left in the game, and third media timeout of the contest, SIU held a strong 36-22 lead.

Brockmeyer bid a farewell to the third quarter with a bang as she threw up a heavily contested shot that went in right as the buzzer sounded. Southern Illinois held an impressive lead, 45-31.

It was at this point that Walker got into foul trouble as the game began to come to a close. However, Katcher filled her shoes on the court.

“Adrianna was all over the boards for us. She was putting in put-backs and her contribution was huge. She played an outstanding game,” Brockmeyer said.

Both teams traded buckets until the final media timeout of the game with 5:01 left to play. The score at this time was 50-39, as the Redbirds started to mount a comeback.

Illinois State finally cut the lead to under ten with a three-pointer. SIU still held a 50-42 lead with 4:53 left on the game clock.

However, SIU pushed the lead back over the 10-point-mark after a layup from Katcher with 2:29 left in the game.

SIU held on to win 56-47 over their inner-state rivals.

The Redbirds averaged 68 points-per-game before playing the Salukis. Brockmeyer said SIU’s defense was huge in coming up with the win.

“That was definitely a point of emphasis. We had different ways of guarding different people, and I think we executed that well,” Brockmeyer said.

Stein said she was proud of how her team handled themselves through adversity.

“I’m very proud of our team. It wasn’t our prettiest game, certainly not our best game we’ve played, but we gritted it out,” Stein said.

Brockmeyer led all scorers with 21 points and added nine rebounds to her statline. As per usual, she received a lot of help from Silvey who totaled 15 points, six rebounds, and six assists.

SIU will play their next game on Saturday, Jan. 22 against Bradley University. The contest will take place at 2 p.m. in the Banterra Center.

Sports Reporter Cole Daily can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter at cdaily_de

To stay up to date on all your southern Illinois news, follow the Daily Egyptian on Facebook and Twitter

Advertisement