A second quarter burst, led by junior guard Makenzie Silvey got the ball rolling for SIU Women’s Basketball in their game today against the Eastern Michigan University Eagles where they defeated their opponents 85-54.

Silvey finished the game tonight with 22 points on 71% shooting, behind senior forward Nicole Martin who put up 23 points and nine rebounds for the Salukis.

Martin led SIU in both scoring and rebounding in today’s match-up against the Eagles.

Prior to today, the two teams hadn’t met since the Illini Classic in 1982 where Southern ran away with a 64-59 victory over Eastern. Tonight’s win gives the Salukis a 2-0 winning record in the all-time series.

Martin started the scoring for the day’s game with a layup in the paint to put SIU up by two.

It took nearly three minutes for the Eagles to get on the board and by the time they did, Southern had scored another layup that came from senior guard Kristen Nelson.

The game was tied early at 6-6 when Eastern Michigan made their second three-pointer of the day.

Scoring continued to tie and play stayed close throughout the quarter, but the Eagles were able to exit the period with a small, two-point lead over Southern after making a three-pointer in the last seconds of play.

The Salukis got the hot hand in the second quarter as they started it off on a 7-2 scoring run that featured four nearly consecutive baskets from Silvey.

For the remainder of the second period, SIU continued to outscore the Eagles (2-3) with Silvey leading the way.

The junior guard had 16 points alone in the second period of the game alone which was more than half of Southern’s 28 second quarter points.

The quarter ended with Eastern Michigan free throws, but the Salukis still held a considerable lead at 42-25.

Eastern Michigan started the scoring in the third quarter and made every attempt to relieve the deficit that the second quarter created, but Southern had an answer for nearly every basket they scored holding tightly onto their lead.

SIU went on another scoring run of 6-1, that featured four different sets of Saluki free throws. These calls put the Eagles into foul trouble.

Scoring continuously went back-and-forth between the two teams making the Eastern Michigan’s attempts at regaining the lead very tough.

A Southern layup finished the third quarter putting the score at 67-45 with the Salukis holding on to a 20-point lead.

An 8-2 Southern Illinois scoring run started the final quarter of the game creating a smaller window of opportunity for an Eagle come back.

In this run, we saw SIU show versatility and depth as baskets were scored by six different individuals on the Saluki roster during this time.

Two back-to-back Eastern Michigan baskets ended the fourth quarter, but this barely made a dent in the Saluki lead that had reached 30-points by this time. 

Such a large lead allowed Southern to leave Michigan with a 85-54 win over the Eagles.

You can catch the SIU Women’s Basketball team (3-2) back in Carbondale on Wednesday at 2 p.m. as they take on the Saint Louis University Billikens in the Banterra Center. 

Sports reporter Tamar Mosby can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter at @mosbytamar.

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