Usually at this point in the season, the SIUC women’s basketball team would be in the midst of the second half of conference play.

This season, though, the Salukis take time away from the Missouri Valley Conference to take on Vanderbilt University in a season that has been anything but usual.

Women’s head coach Cindy Scott said she wants a tough schedule to help her team learn and prepare for the postseason.

Advertisement

The fact that we have the opportunity to play a team of the caliber of Vanderbilt is good for us, Scott said. To get to play an SEC (Southeastern Conference) team that is always ranked in the top 10 is good for us and our fans.

Vanderbilt is the No. 10 team in the nation. The Commodores are ranked 20th in the nation in scoring defense, holding opponents to 58.6 points per game. Senior forward Na’Sheema Hillmon leads Vanderbilt with 13.2 points per game and 6.3 boards per game.

Scott said the key to winning is win the war of the boards.

They shoot the ball better than us, Scott said. They are bigger than us. We have to try to stay with them and keep them off the glass.

Although Vanderbilt is tough, SIUC freshman forward Courtney Smith is confident the Salukis can benefit from playing a good team, regardless of the outcome.

We have talked about How are we going to take a loss?’ Smith said. We have come up with three straight wins. Are we going to take it in a negative way? The way we are playing right now, we have played up to the competition. Playing a team like this heading toward the end of our season will only make us better.

The Salukis have a three-game winning streak and are tied with the University of Northern Iowa for seventh place in the MVC. Smith said it will be good to get a break from playing conference games and re-group for the last stretch of the season.

Advertisement*

She said this part of the season is the most crucial because teams are preparing for the conference tournament March 5-7.

The way we are playing right now, coming off the first half of our season, we have bounced back, and it is this part when you need to be peaking, Smith said. [We need to be] finding the good points of our game, and that is what we are doing right now. It is suddenly a positive part of our season.

Smith said one reason the team is playing so well now is that Scott has found the right combinations for the rookies and the veterans.

Coach is playing a lot of young kids in the lineup, Smith said. The older kids aren’t used to playing with us. So, I definitely think it is a fact of finally getting used to each other and a little flow in our play. We have positive results now.

Freshmen have comprised 32 percent of all playing for the Salukis this season. The Saluki sophomores have accounted for 25 percent.

With the first part of the season over, the Salukis find themselves in contention to move much higher in the standings. If the Salukis continue to play as well as they have in the last three games, Scott said they are poised to continue to rise in the MVC standings.

We feel a lot better and we have made some strides, Scott said. We have taken a great big step forward. There is a lot of basketball left and the conference race has been blown wide open.

SIUC battles Vanderbilt University in a non-conference game at 7:05 tonight at SIU Arena.