The SIU women’s basketball team entered their faceoff against the Indiana State Sycamores having not won a game since December 2 and sitting winless in conference play. A strong fourth quarter effort changed that.
The Salukis outscored ISU 18-9 behind Alice Curman’s seven points in the frame, and the rest of the game was dominated by one individual: Gift Uchenna.
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Thursday was the latest in a line of dominant Uchenna performances, and perhaps her finest of the year. She led the Salukis in scoring, piling up 20 points in 26 minutes, and also grabbed 17 rebounds, with six of them coming on the offensive glass. She had 7 points within the first 10 minutes of the game, and logged her eighth double-double of the season.
Uchenna’s dominance fueled the Salukis to scoring 40 of their 63 points in the paint
The Dawgs racked up stats on the defensive end. Uchenna had four blocks, while Tyranny Brown had three steals. Tete Nelson also had two steals of her own, and she also dished out six assists.
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The Sycamores wouldn’t go quietly. Keslyn Secrist was the biggest obstacle that the Salukis had to go through, nearly matching Uchenna’s performance. Secrist had 20 points, 3 steals and 11 rebounds in 33 minutes.
The Sycamores held an edge heading into halftime, but SIU was able to chip away throughout the quarter. Jeniah Thompson was the driver behind the run, scoring six unanswered points to put the Salukis down one.
Indiana State and SIU went point-for-point for the rest of the third until the Salukis took a 43-42 lead off a Tyranny Brown layup. Indiana State fought back, retook the lead and led well into the fourth quarter until an Alice Curman three put the Dawgs ahead once again.
SIU and ISU traded blows until the Salukis took the lead for good with 2:23 left to go off Isabella Palmqvist’s second three-pointer of the quarter, and Curman took the Salukis home with four points down the stretch to seal a 63-58 win.
This win over the Sycamores marks the Salukis first MVC win of the season, leaving them at 3-11, including 1-5 in conference. The Dawgs will close out their road stretch with a trip to Evansville, who is winless in the MVC, on Jan.19, and will take the court at 1 p.m.
Sports reporter Joslyn Cole can be reached at [email protected]. To stay up to date on all your southern Illinois news, be sure to follow The Daily Egyptian on Facebook.
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