Saluki women’s basketball lost to the Purdue Fort Wayne Mastodons in overtime at home Wednesday night.

The Dawgs were missing one of their leading scorers, Jaidynn Mason, due to personal reasons.  Stepping up to fill the role of their missing piece, the Salukis came out hot. 

Shemera Williams led the Salukis in scoring with 22 points, Seairra Hughes followed with her 14 points and Tyranny Brown finished with nine. Laniah Randle tallied a career-high five blocks.

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“We have to have a next man up mentality,” head coach Kelly Bond-White said. 

Southern outscored the Mastodons 26-18 in the first half, but took a step back in the third and fourth quarters when Purdue Fort Wayne outscored them 36-28.

Ending the fourth quarter 54-54, the Dawgs went into their first overtime of the season.

“The collapse in the fourth quarter, it’s still early in the season. We just have to get better in trust and execute,” Bond-White said. 

Purdue Fort Wayne came out hot, going on a seven-point scoring streak to start overtime.

A minute into overtime, miscommunication between coaching staff and an official resulted in a technical foul against the Salukis, giving the Mastodons two made free throws. 

Southern made eight out of their 14 shots in overtime, but ended up a 70-64 loss to the Mastodons. 

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The Salukis will be back in action this Sunday at the Banterra Center when they host North Texas at 1 p.m.

Reporter Joei Younker can be reached at [email protected]. To stay up to date with all of your Southern Illinois news follow the Daily Egyptian on Facebook and Twitter.

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