DE Assistant Sports Editor

Call last night’s SIUC’s women’s basketball game against Bradley University what you will, an effort, scrap or scuffle, but in the least, call it a win for the Salukis.

SIUC, now 11-2 in conference action, struggled against the Braves ( 6-8) from the start before managing a second half offensive attack enroute to a to a 66-50 victory.

Advertisement

Despite the 16-point victory, SIUC women’s coach Cindy Scott said her team struggled.

Unfortunatley we don’t seem to play very confidentaly, offensively, against their zone, Scott said. They are big and they do a nice job of playing the passing lanes. We didn’t attack.

From the start, neither team was able to mount a solid offensive attack, with the Salukis shooting only 34 percent compared to Bradley’s 31 percent performance in the first half.

Despite Bradley going nearly six minutes without scoring, the Salukis only led by four at the break, 28-24.

However, SIUC attacked the boards in aggressive fashion throughout the game, out rebounding Bradley 56-29, which ultimately made the difference in the outcome of the game.

We turned the ball over so much in the first half, Scott said. If it weren’t for our defense we would be in big trouble. Our kids played a great defensive basketball game.

They really played well defensively and 56-29 on the boards was the difference in the game.

Advertisement*

Senior forward Christel Jefferson and sophomore forward Theia Hudson led SIUC attack on the glass, each hauling in 11 boards on the night. Hudson’s 11 rebounds was a career high.

Scott said Hudson had a great night defensively.

Our interior defense was the best tonight than I’ve seen it all year, Scott said. Theia has improved so much defensively. She was on Broadstone all night and she had two-points to give you and idea.

As in its Jan. 22 matchup against the Braves earlier in the season, which Bradley won 66-58 in Peoria, SIUC had trouble penetrating Bradley’s zone.

However, thanks in part to a second half effort led by senior guard Nikki Gilmore, SIUC went on a 12-1 scoring onslaught to break down Bradley’s zone defense.

Scott said Gilmore’s ability to slice through Bradley’s zone turned the tide for the Salukis offensively.

Nikki started penetrating and breaking down the zone and that was the biggest key to the game offensively, Scott said. We needed to get that. When Gilmore started penetrating and we started finding some open shots we got some good penetration, some dumps inside and that run (12-1) opened it up for us.

Gilmore, who had a slow first half, said Scott told her to settle down and not over penetrate.

Coach told me that I was overpenetrating and to look for the wing outside and get the ball outside, Gilmore said. She told me that if I overpenetrate I would have to come out of the game and I wasn’t going back in. That made me mad.

Despite leading by as many as 19 in the second half, Gilmore said the team did not feel comfortable with such a wide margin.

I was sweating, Gilmore said. We have a tendency to lose big leads so we weren’t comfortable.

At games end, four Salukis tallied double figures, along with one player making her mark in the record books.

Junior guard Kasia McClendon recorded her 207th career steal against the Braves to take over the No. 1 spot on SIUC’s all time steal list, breaking Sue Faber’s record of 203 a record which stood for 13 years.

Scott said it’s a great achievement for McClendon to become SIUC’s all-time steal leader.

She’s had a phenomonel junior year, Scott said. She just plays with guts and effort. She rebounds for you she steals for you. You just got to have her on the floor.

Next on the agenda for the Salukis will be the University of Iowa Saturday afternoon at the SIU Arena. Tip-off time is 3:30.