Kyle Means Daily Egyptian
In this trap game for Indiana State, SIU laid the bait but the Sycamores wouldn't bite as they beat the Salukis for the 12th time in a row and secured a conference title.
Indiana State (23-4, 15-2) won its first ever outright Missouri Valley Conference title by playing championship ball. SIU played feverishly in a second half that head coach Dana Eikenberg called the best her team played all year. The Salukis entered the half down by 14 but pulled to within one point late in the half. When SIU made its charge, the Sycamores let their star, senior guard Melanie Boeglin, handle the ball and open up opportunities for her teammates, who cashed in.
"She looks to find the open person; she finds a way to do it," SIU sophomore Jayme Sweere said.
Boeglin's passes often found one of three players - Rachel Maenpaa, Kristen Weddle and Leah Phillips. The junior Maenpaa was a force in the post, scoring a career-high 21 points and pulling down eight rebounds. Weddle and Phillips stuck three-pointer after three-pointer, hitting 7 of 12 attempts.
SIU got all-out performances from junior Carlai Moore and Sweere. Both players put up game-high efforts of 23 points and did all they could to keep SIU in the game when Indiana State was in control.
"If they had played this well at the same time, we wouldn't be 5-12 in the Valley," Eikenberg said.
What was more noticeable during the comeback was SIU's defense. The
Salukis' trapping style caused problems on the ball for the Sycamores and opened the door for a comeback.
"We did a good job of making the adjustments we were talking about," Eikenberg said. "We were going to change the way we handled the on-ball screen, kind of jumping out and making the ball get out of Boeglin's hands a little quicker."
While SIU surprised many with its tenacity, it wasn't enough to overtake the best team in the MVC for most of the season. Boeglin turned the ball over three times but still put up 18 points and nine assists.
With the score at 66-64, the freshman Phillips stepped up to hit three three-pointers during a four-possession stretch. A three by Weddle put the score at 74-64 with about four minutes left-Indiana State was on its way to the win.
The Salukis will close out the regular season Saturday with Illinois State coming to town for Senior Day. The Redbirds are coming off of a 79-66 win at fourth-place Evansville on Wednesday night in which they led by as much as 16. The Redbirds might be getting hot at the right time; they are in the middle of a three-game winning streak.
They have shown themselves to be streaky throughout the year, with two other winning streaks of three and four games this season as well as a season-high six game losing streak. The second of those six losses came at home to SIU by a score of 87-65.
"I think they're playing really well," Eikenberg said. "The first time we played them they said we outworked them and out-hustled them, so I'm sure there's a vengeance in mind for them. We'd like nothing more than to stop that for them and sweep them this year."
