Women's Basketball drops regular season home finale to UNI, 74-69

March 1, 2008

By Shalae Patrick
www.siusalukis.com

CARBONDALE, Ill. - For the second straight contest, the Southern Illinois (8-18, 4-12) women's basketball team put itself within three points of sending the game into overtime with under 20 seconds left to play before falling in Missouri Valley Conference play. SIU fell to Northern Iowa (12-16, 8-9) Saturday afternoon in SIU Arena, 74-69.

Jayme Sweere hit three of her game-high 25 points to put the Salukis within three, 72-69, in her final regular season game in SIU Arena. SIU then put UNI freshman Jacqui Kalin at the line, draining two of her team-high 20, to put the game out of reach for Southern in their regular-season finale.

"It was a tough loss," Saluki head coach Dana Eikenberg said. "But I thought our seniors played hard, did some really good things. I thought Jayme (Sweere) tried to put it on her back and Erin (Pauk) tried to put it on her back in the second half."

The Salukis led the entire first half. Their largest lead by nine with just under five minutes to play, 34-25, following a Kaci Bailey 3-pointer.

Southern took a five-point lead into the locker room at the half, 40-35.

SIU opened the second half by extending their lead to eight before the Panthers answered with two straight threes and a jumper to tie the game at 45-all with just under 16 minutes to play.

The Panthers would lead the remainder of the game, the Salukis tying the game one more time at the 12:36 mark before UNI pulled away for good.

"We couldn't get over the hump. We had some players making some plays," added Eikenberg. "But it was just one of those games where some little things, free throws and missed layups, really came back to haunt us. The effort is there, we're just not knocking them down."

For just the sixth time this season, the Salukis out-rebounded their opponents. SIU won the battle of the boards by three, 40-37.

Pauk was the only other Saluki in double digits, pitching in 15 points in her final home appearance, while fellow senior Cortney Sales grabbed 11 boards to go with two points and two steals.

UNI put four players in double-digits led by Kalin. Nicole Clausen added 15 points, while Traci Ollendieck and Alexa Mennen added 11 each.

The Salukis return to the road to wrap up the regular season at Illinois State (Mar. 6) and Indiana State (Mar. 8).