Looking for their first win of the season still, the SIU women’s basketball team (0-4) fell to Memphis (4-1) Tuesday afternoon by a 89-76 final score. Some late game heroics by the Dawgs saw them tie it up with six to play, but the Dawgs just couldn’t take care of business.

The Salukis saw three players hit the double-digit mark in scoring in graduate student Ashley Jones, Sophomore Laniah Randle, and freshman Jaidynn Mason. Jones led the way with 15 points while Randle trailed with 13 and Mason came in third with 10. Sophomore Seairra Hughes also helped out the team by leading in rebounds with seven in the afternoon.

The Tigers scored the first four points off layups, but the Dawgs took the next 10 as they’re stretch of slow starts seemed to have better results this go-around. They hung onto that lead narrowly until a trio of free throws by Memphis gave them the 15-14 advantage. But the Dawgs got back into the driver seat, grabbing the lead back with a layup by junior Tamara Nard.

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SIU would hang onto a one point lead (22-21) going into the second quarter, but that was when the Tigers went on the prowl, scoring 10 of the next 12 points to take a 30-24 lead. The Salukis managed to keep things within striking distance for the rest of the quarter and down by no more than 7 points throughout, but went into the locker room down 40-35.

Coming back from the half, Memphis would again come out swinging, earning a 12 point lead off 3 straight baskets and a free throw to start off. They would extend that by as much as 14 at 61-47, but the Dawgs managed just a 9 point deficit going into the fourth quarter off two threes made by sophomore Aja Holmes.

The Dawgs jumped into another gear at the start of the fourth quarter, scoring the first eight points of the frame to get within one point of the Tigers. A free throw by the Tigers would stop the Salukis scoring streak, but a layup by Nard tied the game up at 65 all. 

However, the Salukis just couldn’t grab a lead late, and the Tigers went on a scoring stretch of 16-4 against the Salukis after the Dawgs tied it up. It was too little, too late at that point for the Dawgs as they went down 89-76 to Memphis.

The Salukis will now set their sights onto the Christmas City Classic tournament in Bethlehem Pennsylvania for their first win of the season. The Dawgs will take on the Lehigh Mountain Hawks (2-3) with a first tip Saturday morning at 11am.

Sports editor Joseph Bernard can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @Jojobernard2001. 

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