The SIU women’s basketball faced off against the Illinois State Redbirds at Banterra Center on Friday, Feb. 13. The matchup followed a two-game win streak where the Salukis hoped to bag another win at home. 

With head coach Kelly Bond-White out for recovery from an emergent medical illness, assistant coach Greg Brown led the team to a successful victory. 

“We didn’t add to her trouble tonight with that. She’s good and responding well. We’re excited to get her back and healthy tomorrow at practice,” Brown said. 

Beginning at the tip-off being won by ISU, the Redbirds were eager to get the first shot off within the first minute, which led to a short-lived back and forth. 

Salukis gained a 12-point lead with smooth 3-pointers and determined turnovers to set the pace for the rest of the quarter. Not too harshly shaken up by the run of points, the Redbirds returned the favor with a run of their own, bringing in 7 points straight. The first quarter went to SIU by a narrow 17-14 margin.

Salukis turned up the volume going into the second quarter, getting the first shot off with a pull-up jumper from Alayna Kraus. An impressive 17 point run gave the Salukis a boost in confidence, driving through the Redbirds who would only be able to rack up a total of 11 points throughout the whole quarter, in contrast to the strong Saluki sum of 25, adding up to a halftime total of 41-25 in favor of the Dawgs. 

Coming in hot for the third quarter, ISU moved with determination to bring themselves back into the game. With effective work like capitalizing on jumpers, Salukis were halted a bit in the first half of the third quarter. With a few turnovers given up by SIU and blocked shots, Salukis looked to bring their energy back after a timeout following a 11 point jump in ISU’s score. 

Both teams came out of a timeout with short back-and-forth. Saluki forward Carmen Morales showcased a strong aura of dominance in her area on the court with two powerful layups. Towards the last minute of the third quarter, Kraus moved confidently, dropping back-to-back shots with ease. 

Finishing out the third quarter, Kynnedi Davis dropped a brilliant buzzer beater to leave the Redbirds in the dust, with SIU up 66-43. 

“We worked on it during shoot-around. Coach Brown just said, come on, we’re gonna work on buzzer beaters, and we just started throwing them up… and we find out (Davis) makes one and we just say thank you Coach Brown,” guard Kayla Cooper said. 

Opening the last quarter, Cooper started a small run for the team with a 3-point jumper less than a minute in. With ISU giving their best attempt to stay in with a back and forth exchange with SIU, the Salukis were able to overwhelm them by adding far more to the scoreboard. 

As the Redbirds continued to stay behind, so did the mistakes, which allowed for Salukis to capitalize to further advance the game in their favor. Multiple failed layups and turnovers from ISU gave SIU all the confidence they needed to finish out strong with a final score of 84-60. 

The Salukis hope to keep this momentum going in their next matchup against the Bradley Braves on Sunday, Feb. 15, at 4 p.m at Banterra Center. 

Staff Reporter Leo Castro can be contacted at [email protected]   

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