By Travis Akin 17

All Northwestern University needed was four minutes to set up the transition offense that stripped away any hopes by the SIUC women’s basketball team that it could upset the Wildcats Friday night.

SIUC was down by only one point four minutes into the game at Evanston, but the Salukis were unable to execute in the post and fell apart defensively for the rest of the first half. By the end of the half, SIUC trailed 51-25 and eventually lost the game 83-69.

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Saluki women’s basketball coach Cindy Scott said poor first-half defense made the 26-point lead look effortless for the Wildcats.

What they did was beat us down the floor with their transition offense, Scott said in her postgame radio show. We were standing still. We were just very inept defensively in the first half. It was like shooting practice for them. I am not sure they broke a sweat at all in the first half.

The game was played in four quarters, as opposed to two halves, as part of an experiment in the preseason NIT. By the end of the first quarter, the Salukis had just three players in the scoring column, while the Wildcats kept beating the Salukis in transition.

SIUC did make a strong showing in the second half but was never able to overcome the 26-point lead the Wildcats built in the first half. The Salukis outscored Northwestern 44-32 in the second half, led by the play of the Saluki freshmen.

Scott said she did not want to have to rely on the freshmen, but she was pleased with the way they came into the game and helped SIUC control the second-half scoring.

We had to go to our freshmen, and I thought they played their hearts out, Scott said. I was very impressed with our young kids and how they played. Our young kids went out and absolutely just played.

Guard Maria Niebrugge led the freshmen scoring with 10 points. Forward Courtney Smith ended the night with five, and guard Terica Hathaway had eight points. Center Kristine Abramowski put up four points and led the freshmen with six rebounds in 18 minutes of play.

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Scott said Abramowski did what was expected of her and fought hard inside.

She (Abramowski) just played hard, Scott said. She moves. She’s aggressive. That’s what all of those young kids do.

But several Saluki starters also had a better second half. After being held to just four points in the first half, senior center Theia Hudson scored 16 points after halftime to lead SIUC.

I was pleased with Theia’s play, Scott said. She got beat on transition defense sometimes, but that’s the one weakness that Theia brings to you. She is not a good transition defensive player.

When you are playing teams that run around like this, you’ve got to sit her down a little bit and let her look at it. I thought she held her own extremely well inside.

Although Hudson did settle down and adjusted in the second half, the Salukis could never catch the Wildcats. Junior guard Kristina Divjak paced the Wildcats with 23 points, while senior center Mary Connolly added 15.

The Wildcats also shut down the Salukis’ best three-point shooter early in the game, as sophomore Meredith Jackson made just two three-point baskets.

Scott said the Salukis’ preseason NIT showing was not nearly as good as the team’s performance in a 79-53 win over the Australia National Team at SIU Arena Nov. 9.

I think we took a giant step backward, Scott said. But that’s all right. We’ll take this film and learn from it.

The Salukis play the University of Memphis at 7:05 p.m. Tuesday at SIU Arena.