Southern Illinois bounces back with second win on the season against Chicago State

By Cole Daily, Assistant Sports Editor|December 1, 2022

The SIU women’s basketball team raises their hands in a pump up before the game against Illinois State on Saturday, Feb. 6, 2021, in the Banterra Center at SIU. The Salukis went on to win 43-41 to the Redbirds.

Chicago State traveled to the Banterra Center on December 1 to take on the Southern Illinois women’s basketball team. The Salukis won the game by a whopping 48 points, with a final score of 115-57.

The Salukis started the game incredibly hot, jumping on the Cougars neck right from the get go. By the time of the first media timeout, with 4:21 left to play in the first quarter, the Dawgs held a 12-3 lead.

This was only the beginning in a long night for Chicago State. SIU would finish off the quarter outsourcing the Cougars 20-9 the rest of the way.

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Southern Illinois continued to rally after a couple of fouls drawn early to start the second quarter. A 47-21 Salukis lead was where both teams stood by the second media timeout.

At halftime, the Salukis had already put 60 points on the board, compared to Chicago State’s 29. By this point, senior Ashley Jones had been putting on a clinic with 14 points. She would continue to have the hot hand the rest of the night.

It seems the Cougars understood this would have to be a breaking point if they wanted to have any chance of coming back in this one. They started the second half off fairly well, as SIU only led 64-37 by the time of the third media timeout.

It was after this timeout, with 3:59 left in the third quarter, that SIU would rally yet again. They would establish themselves and grow their lead to 88-45 as the clock hit zero.

With one quarter left to play and an enormous lead for the Dawgs, coach Kelly Bond-White decided to bench most of her rotational player. Southern Illinois would inevitably win the game 115-57.

As previously mentioned, Jones was the player of the game against CSU. She would finish with 29 points, four threes and five assists. Sophomore Aja Holmes put on a clinic behind the three point line with five threes on the night, totaling 19 points.

The Salukis will play their next game against Tennessee State in the Banterra Center. This game will be played on Wednesday, December 7 at 11 a.m.

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

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