DeKalb, Ill. – A
constant one-possession game, the Western Illinois women’s basketball
team was held to nine points in the fourth quarter by Southern Illinois
to fall 79-65 on Thursday (Dec. 19) to open the Compass Challenge.
The
tournament opener was a show inside the NIU Convocation Center with 11
lead changes, and nine separate times the Salukis and Leathernecks were
tied.
Before
the tight third-quarter buzzer echoed, Southern Illinois drilled a
three-pointer to tie it 56-56 into the final ten minutes. The bucket
turned out to be the turning point of the in-state battle as SIU went
off for 23 points and held the Leathernecks to nine for a chance to
repeat as champions.
Similar to Tuesday’s outing, Sam Pryor came
off the bench and drilled the long ball. She nailed two three-pointers
as the Leathernecks forced eight turnovers to lead 18-16 at the end of
the first quarter.
The Salukis responded and opened the second quarter on a 7-0 run to regain the lead. Back-to-back threes from Danni Nichols put
a halt to the run and tied the game 24-24 at 6:22. Seven ties
highlighted the first half as Western-owned a one-point advantage
(35-34) into the half behind Carla Flores’ four assists.
Evan Zars led Western to own the paint battle (36-26) with a double-double (10 reb.) for a career-high 13 points.
The
Leathernecks will take on the loser of the Eastern Illinois and
Northern Illinois game to conclude the Compass Challenge and non-league
play.
