De Assistant Sports Editor

Temperatures in Des Moines last night were frigid, however, the SIUC women’s basketball team’s matchup against Drake University was red hot.

With sound shooting and solid rebounding, the Salukis walked away with a 73-66 win against Drake, improving its Missouri Valley Conference record to 8-2 and sweeping Drake on the season.

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Offensively, SIUC shot 42 percent from the field, hitting 27 of 64 shots. Defensively, the Salukis outrebounded Drake 45-30, 15 of which were hauled in by senior forward Christel Jefferson.

Saluki coach Cindy Scott said rebounding definitely played a key role in the game.

We rebounded extremely well tonight, Scott said. We killed them on the boards. Jefferson and Heather Slater played a heck of a game inside for us the entire second half.

Junior guard Kasia McClendon, helped pace SIUC’s offensive attack, knocking in 9 of 21 and ending the night with a season high 26 points to go along with 10 rebounds.

Despite an 11-2 run by Drake, the Salukis only led by two at the halfway mark. However, SIUC gained the momentum early in the second half with an 8-0 run led by McClendon who hit her first three buckets to put SIUC on top 45-37.

Scott said last night’s victory a rare one in the Knapp Center was especially pleasing as the race for the MVC tournament heats up. Prior to last night, SIUC’s record against Drake at the Center was 0-3.

This was a great win the first win we’ve had in the Knapp Center, Scott said. Our kids fought very hard for this game. I’m really proud of them and very happy for them.

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One force SIUC could not stop was Drake senior forward Tricia Wakely. Wakely leads the MVC in scoring and rebounding, averaging 20.1 points per game and 9.5 rebounds. Last night Wakely remained true to form garnering 24 points and 8 rebounds.

With last nights win, the Salukis are in sole posession of second place in the Valley. However, SIUC could once again go into a tie for second with Illinois State, depending on if the Redbirds can knock of the Sycamores of Indiana State on Saturday in Normal.

Scott said prior to SIUC’s road trip, the team talked about dedicating themselves to the remainder of the season and getting to conference tournament..

As we all know it’s been a tough year, Scott said. We really talked a lot as a team before this game about dedicating ourselves to making the second half of our conference the best that we can.

SIUC continually confused Drake by switching its defensive game around the entire night. Scott utilized the zone defense, man-to-man defense, and a full court press to throw off the Bulldog’s offense.

However, Drake did manage to make a late second half charge against the Salukis, coming as close as two with a minute to play before being forced to foul. Unfortunately for Drake, they fouled senior guard Nikki Gilmore, who hit 4 key free throws to put the game away.

The next stop for SIUC will be in Omaha on Sunday against the University of Creighton. SIUC has yet to win in Omaha but, Scott said her team will be ready to meet the challenge.

It’s another tough game and we’re going into the Creighton game with the idea that we need to win, Scott said. We want to win it and we think we can win it.

The Salukis beat Creighton in SIU Arena earlier in the season and Scott said that is an advantage for the Salukis.

When we play a team for the second time I think we do a better job in understanding those teams and have a more intact game plan, Scott said. We’re stuck two days in Omaha so we’ll practice and try to get ready to win on Sunday afternoon and come home with two wins.

Tip-off is at 1:05 Sunday afternoon in the Omaha Civic Auditorium.