On Saturday, Southern’s Women’s Basketball team (6-9, 3-3 MVC) traveled to the Windy City to take on Illinois-Chicago (11-6, 3-3 MVC). The Women gained an enormous 14-point lead at one point in the first half, only to lose it quickly in the third.

Leading the Salukis on the night were graduate student Ashley Jones and junior Tamara Nard, who each tallied double-digits in points throughout the game and added four rebounds each. Sophomore Zoe Belcher added five rebounds to help lead the team in the category, while Jaidynn Mason led in assists with five of those.

The Flames took the first four points of the matchup, but the Salukis came roaring back with a 9-0 run to put them on top. A back-and-forth ending to the first quarter resulted in a Saluki lead at the end of the frame. A huge run to start the second ultimately resulted in the dawg’s 14-point lead after a huge jumper and three by senior Quierra Love and a layup by Belcher. A layup got things going once again for the Flames as they managed to cut the deficit to eight at 32-24 before heading into the locker room.

After leading for more than 20 straight minutes, the Salukis’ lead diminished to a tie game just three minutes into the second half at 32. After trading baskets for a few minutes, Illinois-Chicago finally grabbed the lead after a couple of layups. Luckily, Jones and Mason would come through with just under a minute to go in the third to make things tied up once more at 42 just before the fourth and final quarter.

However, it didn’t take long for the Flames to jump back into the lead. The teams traded leads ten different times throughout the quarter for an extremely competitive final ten minutes. Two different jumpers by Jones helped give the Salukis the lead at 49-47 and 53-51.

A three by Aja Holmes gave the Dawgs the lead once more with just over a minute left at 58-57, then a layup by Nard did the same with just 50 seconds left, but a foul by Shermera Williams with 33 seconds left gave the Flames two free shots to take the lead late. They capitalized it and then were gifted with another foul by Holmes once more, where they capitalized on both to take a three-point lead with just 20 seconds left. It was fouling time from there and the Flames handed the Dawgs their third loss in as many games with a 65-62 final.

The Dawgs will try to end their three-game losing streak with another road matchup against Murray State this upcoming Friday. That game will start with a 6 pm tip-off.

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

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