SIU Women’s Basketball’s spectacular 2021-22 campaign has come to an end after their round 1 game against Purdue in the WNIT tournament. The Salukis fell with a 82-60 final score, marking the end of their season and the last game for coach Cindy Stein’s career as well as many other seniors on the roster.

On the bright side for the Salukis, performances from graduate student Gabby Walker, Abbey Brockmeyer, and Makenzie Silvey shined for them. Walker led the team in points with 19 as well as putting up nine more rebounds, three steals, and a block. Brockmeyer wasn’t far behind with 17 points, nine rebounds, two steals, and two assists. Silvey topped it off with 10 points, five rebounds, four assists, and four steals. Her 10 points put her over 2,000 career points, the only women’s basketball player in SIU history to ever eclipse that mark.

The Boilermakers jumped out to an 8-2 lead in the first five minutes of play and only expanded it to get to 11-4. A jumper by Silvey and a three-pointer by sophomore Quierra Love quickly turned it to just a two-point deficit, but some free throws for Purdue and a missed three by Silvey allowed the Boilermakers a six-point lead at 17-11 heading into the second frame.

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A layup and some free throws by Brockmeyer started the second for the Salukis, but the Boilermakers quickly took on the next 10 points for themselves to go up by 14 midway through the frame. Silvey responded with a jumper, but Purdue would respond back with a three and a jumper of their own, making it 38-21. The Salukis headed into the locker room down even more at 43-23 and needed answers quickly.

Inching towards answers, a couple of free throws by Brockmeyer and a layup by Walker made it a tad closer at a 17 point deficit, but another 10-2 run for Purdue would follow, giving them a 25 point lead late in the third. Walker would finish the frame with another layup, but still down by 23 points going into the final quarter.

Getting closer and closer, a jumper by Walker put things back down to a 15 point deficit with under six minutes remaining, but another run of 9-3 for Purdue would keep things out of reach. It put them up by 21 points with three minutes to go and it was too much for the Salukis to come back from as SIU would go down swinging and make it 82-60 before the final buzzer sounded.

The 2021-2022 SIU Women’s Basketball team finishes with a 21-10 final record, while earning rights as the regular-season Missouri Valley Conference Champions.
Sports reporter Joseph Bernard can be reached at [email protected] or on twitter @Jojobernard2001.

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