SIU Women’s Basketball defense held Valparaiso to 36 percent shooting and 27 percent in the third quarter to pull away with a 58-47 win.

Southern and Valparaiso met up for their second time this season, with the Salukis claiming the victory late January at SIU Arena, 87-65.

Coming into the game Valpo (6-20, 2-13 MVC) was looking to turn things around as they had lost eight of their last nine games.

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SIU (13-12, 6-8 MVC) was looking to win their second straight road game after defeating Loyola on Friday and the win would put them in a tie with Loyola for sixth in the conference.

The Crusaders opened the scoring in the game but sophomore guard Makenzie Silvey made a three-pointer for Southern to take a brief lead – until Valpo added a three-pointer of their own to pull out a 5-3 lead.

Valparaiso added to their lead with another layup but a three-pointer by freshman guard Caitlin Link and a layup by sophomore forward Abby Brockmeyer allowed for the Dawgs to retake a one point lead with 4:05 left in the first quarter.

Silvey was fouled on a drive to the basket and she made one of her two free throws to push the lead out to two but the Crusaders retook the lead off a three-pointer by freshman guard Shay Frederick.

Valpo made a layup to push their lead out to 12-9 with 1:41 left in the first quarter, the first quarter closed with both teams combining to miss five baskets.

Southern opened the second quarter on a 4-0 run with a layup by Brockmeyer and Silvey for the Salukis to retake the lead at 13-12.

Junior forward Nicole Martin was fouled on her layup attempt and made one of her two free throws to extend the lead out to two but Valparaiso answered with a three-pointer to retake a one point lead with 5:37 left in the second quarter.

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SIU retook the lead with a layup by Martin and two made free throws by junior forward Lauren Hartman to give the Salukis the 18-15 lead.

Silvey added a three-pointer to cap off a 7-0 run by the Dawgs, which was ended by the Crusaders making one of their two free throws as Southern lead 21-16 with 1:48 left in the second quarter.

A free throw by Martin and a free throw by Valpo sophomore guard Addison Stoller finished the scoring in the first half as SIU held a 22-17 lead.

The Crusaders opened the third quarter with a three-pointer and Stoller drove in for a layup to knot the score up, but a layup by Martin allowed for the Salukis to retake a two point lead.

Southern went on a 7-0 run led by five points from Silvey with a three-pointer to push the lead out to 29-22 with 6:43 left in the third quarter.

The pace started to pick up as Link made one of her two free throws and Silvey added a layup as the Salukis pushed out a nine point lead forcing a timeout by Valparaiso.

Silvey began to make her presence known as she had scored 11 straight points for SIU after a three-pointer by her gave the Dawgs a 35-23 lead in the third quarter.

Silvey finished the game with the team lead in points with 16 to go along with two blocks on the defensive end.

Hartman fouled Stoller on a drive to the basket and Stoller made both of her free throws and she added a layup to cut the Saluki lead to 35-27. Stoller finished with a career high 24 points to lead the scoring for Valparaiso.

After the 4-0 run by the Crusaders, Hartman added a three-pointer and sophomore forward Rachel Pudlowski added a layup to push the lead out to 13 in the third quarter.

Both teams combined to go to the free throw line eight times at the end of the third quarter and a jumper by Pudlowski ended the scoring in the third quarter as SIU led 45-31.

Southern opened the fourth quarter with a miss by Brockmeyer and Valpo responded with a three-pointer to cut the the lead down to 11.

Martin made a layup and a free throw after a foul, the Crusaders answered with four straight points to cut the Saluki lead to 48-38 with 7:50 left in the game.

SIU went on an 8-0 run led by two three-pointers from junior guard Kristen Nelson to push the lead out to 18 with 5:54 left in the final quarter.

Stoller scored six points for Valpo with two of the coming from the free throw line and Brockmeyer added a layup as the Salukis still lead 58-44.

Neither team scored for three minutes until the Crusaders scored on a three-pointer at the 1:30 mark off a fast break to cut the SIU lead to 11.

Southern did not score the last five minutes of the game as the Dawgs walked away victors in Valparaiso 58-47.

The Salukis will be back in action on March 1st against Drake at SIU Arena with tip-off set for 6 p.m.

 Sports editor Adam Warfel can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter at @warfel_adam.

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