A NCAA women’s basketball game has two 20-minute halves, but Illinois scored more points in less than one half than SIU did in the whole game.

The Illini (7-2) never trailed in its first trip to the SIU Arena since 1995, blowing out the Salukis (4-2) 86-42.

llinois took a 3-0 lead after freshman center Chatrice White completed a three-point play with 18:49 left to play in the first half. That was as close as the game would be.

White and Illini senior guard Ivory Crawford led all scorers with 21 points each. Crawford added a game-high 11 rebounds.

Saluki sophomore point guard Rishonda Napier’s 30-foot floater at halftime cut the Illini lead to 57-15 and gave her 11 points, which led all scorers in the first half.

She said she was determined not to let her team go down without a fight in the second half.

“We’re not going to hang our heads and let a 40-point lead turn into a 60-point lead,” Napier said. “No, we’re not about to just roll over. We’ve got to fight.”

The second half was much closer, as Illinois outscored the Salukis by only 2 points.

Napier finished with 18 points in the game, while only one of her teammates finished with more than 4 points.

Coach Cindy Stein said the loss to her alma mater could be a valuable experience for SIU.

“I think we’re going to be much, much better experiencing this so that next time we’re going to be able to handle it better,” Stein said.”

SIU plays at 1:05 p.m. Dec. 13 at Austin Peay State in Clarksville, Tenn.

Thomas Donley can be reached at [email protected] and on Twitter @tdonleyde