It’s too bad this game didn’t count in Missouri Valley Conference standings.

The SIU women’s basketball team trounced Christian Brothers University 69-29 Sunday afternoon. The Salukis dominated the game, forcing 22 turnovers.

The Salukis outscored the Lady Buccaneers 40-12 in the second half, and SIU’s 29 first-half points matched Christian Brothers’ total for the entire game.

Head coach Dana Eikenberg attributed the win to a disruptive defense and strong rebounding.

“I thought we did a decent job of taking them out of some things that they had hoped to do,” Eikenberg said. “(I) saw some nice things that our defense was able to generate.”

The Salukis outrebounded the Lady Buccaneers 49-28, 19 of which were offensive rebounds – three less than the amount of defensive boards by CBU.

Senior forward Carlai Moore led all scorers with eight rebounds and 18 points, including an eight-point spree in the second half.

“I think I just played my role as a leader and just to try to get us a good start, but I didn’t do it by myself,” Moore said. “I had great teammates surrounding me, getting me the ball.”

Eikenberg said the game exemplified the approach SIU plans to take all season.

“We want to think of the game in stop-and-scores instead of score-and-stops,” she said. “We’re going to try to get you stopped first and then be able to execute our scores off of that. That’s our defensive philosophy.”

SIU also received strong performances from newcomers Debbie Burris and Dana Olsen.

Burris, a junior forward transfer, finished with nine points, four assists and seven rebounds.

Olsen, a freshman forward, recorded 10 points and five rebounds.

Moore said the emergence of Burris and Olsen bodes well for the Salukis’ post game – which, in turn, will free up Moore.

“If I can play against single coverage instead of double teaming, it’s a lot better,” Moore said. “It just gives our low post presence a great lift.”

SIU, though, was less than stellar from the free-throw line, going 7 for 17.

Eikenberg said the team will work on the issue as well as not sending opponents to the charity stripe.

“We’ll get back to practice tomorrow morning and really start to address some of those things before a very good Missouri team rolls in here on Sunday,” Eikenberg said.

The Salukis will kick off the regular season Sunday against the University of Missouri. The opener will start at 2:05 p.m. at the SIU Arena.