The SIU women’s basketball team defeated Kentucky Wesleyan College 89-41 on Saturday at SIU Arena.

The Salukis’ matchup against the Division II Panthers served as the team’s annual exhibition game to open their season.

On an afternoon where wearing a costume earned free admission to the game, the Salukis saved all tricks and gave fans treats on “Halloween Night” at SIU.

If the game was a Halloween horror film, senior guard Kylie Giebelhausen expertly played the protagonist by slashing down the Panthers.

She wasted no time Saturday night, quickly draining a 3-pointer to put the Salukis on the board and open the first quarter of play with an 11-1 run.

The senior’s five points and three rebounds helped the Salukis end a turnover-plagued first quarter with an 18-6 lead.

The Panthers responded well early in the second quarter, pulling to within four points of SIU, before the Salukis pulled away late.

Nine points from sophomore forward Nicole Martin and Giebelhausen helped pace the Salukis scoring in the first half that ended with a 41-19 lead.

SIU used eight rebounds from Giebelhausen and six boards from freshman forward Abby Brockmeyer to build a 27-10 advantage on-the-glass in the first half.

“I feel like we have a lot of kids that can score,” SIU women’s coach Cindy Stein said.

Stein’s squad added another 28 points in the third quarter. Eight different Salukis contributed points to increase their lead to 69-31.

The Salukis coasted to victory in the fourth quarter, claiming its first win of the season with a decisive 48-point spread 89-41..

SIU’s defense prevented any Panther from scoring double digits in the contest and forced 24 turnovers. However, the Salukis turned the ball over 25 times themselves.

“The only disappoint I take away is that we shared the ball really well but shared it a lot with [Kentucky Wesleyan] as well,” Stein said.

Giebelhausen — the lone senior on this season’s squad — ended the contest as the scoring leader with 22 points while racking up 6 assists and falling one rebound shy of a double-double. 

“I was looking towards controlling the court,” Giebelhausen said. “Once we got into the swing of things, I was able to be more aggressive on offense.”

Coach Stein said she is pleased in Giebelhausen’s on-court work as the leader of the Salukis, in  what was a game emphatically utilized as a “learning process.”

Freshman guard Makenzie Silvey used three 3-pointers to accumulate her 13 points in the game.

Martin also completed the contest with 13 points of her own.

“I really just tried to stay positive,” Martin said. “[I learned] I don’t want to let small things affect me. I think we did well as a whole.”

Up next

The Salukis are back in action Friday at SIU Arena — for the season’s first official game — against Lindenwood University-Belleville. Tipoff is scheduled 6 p.m.

Sports reporter Nathan Dodd can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter at @NathanMDodd.

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