Salukis face regional rival Evansville

Rested SIU faces a struggling Evansville team

Comment on this story on our discussion board

After eight days off, the SIU women's basketball team returns to the court for the second half of the Missouri Valley Conference season tonight with a home contest against a slumping Evansville squad.

The break could provide a physical and mental boost for the Salukis.

"We got a lot of rest that was definitely needed," said senior guard Molly McDowell. "Some of the players had some injuries that needed to be taken care of, and a little rest and relaxation is really helping."

The Salukis will attempt to snap an 11-game losing streak and pick up their first league win, and Evansville could be just the team to help SIU get back on track.

The Purple Aces were sitting atop the league standings after winning seven in a row, culminating with a 95-85 win over SIU Jan. 11. But Evansville has not won since, and five of those six straight losses were not even close. Other than an overtime loss to Illinois State, Evansville has lost those games by an average of 19 points.

"People are beating them and beating them bad, so I don't know why there wouldn't be a chance for us to just run over them," said McDowell, who lit up the Purple Aces for 35 points in the January meeting.

The likelihood of a Saluki win would be even better if point guard and No. 2 scorer Dana Pinkston could play as well as she did in her last outing. The junior Gallatin County High School product scored 25 points and did not allow turnovers to get the best of her.

"Hopefully that's going to give her a boost confidence wise, and that will certainly help," said head coach Lori Opp. "I think Pinkston's one of the better point guards in the league, and people have not seen that yet this year consistently. I think Dana's capable of getting by a lot of people and scoring points for us on a consistent basis."

The Salukis are strong on the perimeter, but that area is the Purple Aces' weakness. Freshman guard Megan Liffick was lost to the season to an ACL injury Dec. 13. Then Jessica Stewart quit the team Jan. 20, hitting the already inexperienced backcourt hard.

Evansville makes up for that with a strong low-post game, though.

Evansville boasts a one-two inside punch of Jenna Hayes and Jamie Gray. The two combine to average more than 30 points a game.

"They work well together," said Evansville head coach Tricia Cullop. "They've played together for a long time now. They do a nice job working together in the high-low situations that we have."

But despite the differences between the two teams, both are struggling in similar aspects of the game.

"Two of the things that have been really hurting us have been rebounding and limiting our turnovers," Cullop said.

Those have also been big factors in the Salukis' skid.

The two teams' proximity to each other and the fact that both will be trying to end long losing streaks could make for an exciting game.

"It's always a good game," Cullop said. "Our Southern Illinois game and our Indiana State game, because of proximity, are always great rivalries."

Reporter Ethan Erickson can be reached at eerickson@dailyegyptian.com