Saluki Sports
Part of the Daily Egyptian
Salukis host the Billikens
Gabe House
ghouse@dailyegyptian.comThe SIU women's basketball team continues to seek its first win Tuesday evening against the Saint Louis Billikens.
The Billiken, a symbol of good fortune, has been anything but for SLU. The team has won only one game in the regular season against Austin Peay, and has since lost two in a row to Southwest Missouri State and Drake.
SIU remains winless entering its final contest of a three-game homestand, after falling to Southeast Missouri State and Tennessee Tech at the SIU Arena.
Sharing similar records and offensive numbers - SLU is averaging 58 points a game to SIU's 51.4 - the Salukis may have a good chance of notching their first victory of the season.
Dana Eikenberg, head coach of the Salukis, said SIU is approaching the game as a chance to focus on itself. She wants to put the emphasis more on offensive aspects of the game against the Billikens.
"At this time of the year, the defense is always ahead of the offense," Eikenberg said. "It could be two comparable teams of different levels of ability."
Although a victory would be much appreciated by Eikenberg, she said it isn't realistic to measure the Salukis' success by wins and losses, but by progress.
Win or lose, SIU will have to limit the Billikens' top scorer, Mia Johnson. The freshman guard is leading the team with 16.4 points a game. Johnson has taken the helm of a young squad with only one senior, point guard Ava Smith, returning to the Billikens.
Eikenberg has some history with Johnson, briefly recruiting her at Missouri-Kansas City, her former employer. Although that obviously didn't work out, Eikenberg said Johnson and her young cohorts are extremely athletic and solid.
"I think we have the ability to contain," Eikenberg said. "For us, it will just be continuing to focus on our philosophy defensively and get into an offensive poise."
The Salukis were forced into an aggressive style of play against SEMO last Wednesday after SIU was confronted with a full-court trap the majority of the game.
While the Saluki offense was stifled - senior guards Danette Jones and Daphney Desamours were limited to only 12 points in the first half against SEMO - Eikenberg liked aspects of SIU's defense.
"We want to play aggressively, both defensively and offensively, but if we don't start the aggression, we're in trouble," Eikenberg said.
Playing to the opposition's speed isn't what Eikenberg wants. She said the Salukis have to set the tone.
SIU may begin to do just that with communication between the players improving.
Eikenberg said the Salukis are starting to realize each other's strengths and weaknesses, and senior center Wendy Goodman said the team chemistry has gotten better.
"We're more together," Goodman said. "I definitely think we're capable of beating them."
SLU, like SEMO, likely will focus on limiting Jones and Desamours as much as possible. The two have combined to score more than half of SIU's points this season.
Eikenberg said the Salukis are prepared to handle the defensive pressure put on Jones and Desamours for the entirety of the season. Now, the rest of the team just has to step up and help when tight defenses start to wear the duo down.
"We can't stand and watch Daphney do it all," Eikenberg said. "I think we'll be more alert to that as we go on."
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Last update: Tuesday, December 7, 2004 at 1:45:19 AM
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