Salukis Women’s Basketball (7-15) couldn’t secure a home win against the Belmont Bruins (17-6) Saturday afternoon at home in Banterra.

The player of the game is Jaidynn Mason with 19 points and six assists. Laniah Randle was behind her with 11 points and nine rebounds, and Seairra Hughers with nine points and eight rebounds.

“We were worried about their inside looks just a little bit,” Head Coach Kelly Bond-White said. “ Then as they were able to get out and get some kick outs we needed to move on the air time to get out rotations and we had to adjust to that which we did.”

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In the first two quarters, the Salukis played steadily but trailed behind the Bruins most of the time until the second quarter when layups by Randle and Mason cut the trail to four points going into halftime with 32-29.

“We got to have next best action and stick to a game plan of what you saw us get some high-low looks,” Bond-White said. “[We] has some good interior passing in the first half, and we got to be next best action players.”

Bond-White mentioned that it’s important for the team to not get stuck on the fouls that they get and focus on playing a good game still.

“I told our kids before the game I thought it was an evenly called game,” Bond-White said. “So officiating didn’t affect us at all but sometimes we lose that continuity.”

Going into the third quarter Southern continued to trail behind the Bruins having a 6-0 run for several minutes until Mason broke with less than two minutes left in the quarter. Unfortunately weren’t able to keep up the momentum with Bruins’ guard Jailyn Banks’ consistent layups helping them end the game with 65-55.

“What we have to do is lock in and follow our game plan,” Bond-White said. “If we can put 70 points on the board against better defensive teams in our conference then we’re going to have to give that same kind of effort.”

The Salukis will hit the road to Meeks Family Fieldhouse to play the Evansville Purple Aces on Thursday at 6: 00 p.m.

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Jamilah Lewis can be reached at [email protected]. To stay up to date with all your southern Illinois news, follow the Daily Egyptian on Facebook and Twitter.

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