Heading into the University of Evansville Saturday, the attitude of the SIUC women’s basketball team is backed by confidence, not cockiness.

At 9-2 in the Missouri Valley Conference, the Salukis have a firm grasp on second place behind SouthWest Missouri State’s unblemished record of 11-0.

Saturday SIUC will take on Evansville, currently the cellar-dwellers of the conference at 1-10, hoping to gain some more ground in the conference.

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At this point in the Valley race, Saluki women’s coach Cindy Scott is not taking the Aces too lightly. Despite their dismal record, Scott said playing the Aces in Evansville has her on edge.

They scare me to death, Scott said. Going into Evansville scares me as much as going to Drake or Creighton because they are a team that has nothing to lose.

In its last meeting with Evansville Jan. 13, SIUC struggled against the Aces throughout the game before finishing them off 66-59 at SIU Arena.

Scott said Evansville’s offense is capable of producing points against any team in the conference.

They shoot the three very well, and they are a very capable ball club, she said. Everybody is up for Southern Illinois, and that’s a big game for Evansville when SIUC comes to town. We cannot afford any type of a letdown. We need to keep winning.

Winning is what SIUC has been all about as of late. The Salukis have won four straight, and eight out of their last 10 games.

While SIUC closes in on its 15th winning season in a row, the Aces continue to struggle.

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This season the Aces’ offense have allowed opponents to score an average of 83.9 points per game to go along with 48 boards, while only shooting a meager 36 percent from the field themselves.

Scott said now that the end of the regular season is fast approaching, many teams will be looking to beat SIUC and SMSU.

I think just because of the tradition of our success, everybody is up for SIUC and SMSU Scott said. Everybody wants to beat the teams that are among the best.

Year in year out we are among the best in the conference.

Evansville has only a 1-9 record in the series with SIUC since 1985. However, a Saluki win is not a sure thing a fact senior forward Heather Slater is well aware of.

Evansville is a really good team, Slater said. They played us really hard. They’re not winning that much but they are a pretty good team.

We’re looking to go in there with our heads on straight because if we don’t, there is a chance we could lose to them, and we don’t want to lose any more from here on out.

Senior guard Nikki Gilmore said the team is feeling good, but are not allowing themselves to become overconfident.

We’re feeling great since we won at Creighton and Drake, Gilmore said. We’re not going to overlook anyone because everyone in the conference is going to give us a game.

Saturday’s tip-off is at 2:00 at Roberts Stadium.