By William Becque siusalukis.com
CARBONDALE, Ill. — The Southern Illinois women’s basketball team celebrated senior day with a 66-41 win over the Evansville Purple Aces Saturday afternoon inside SIU Arena.
The Salukis (16-13, 11-7 MVC) were led by their lone senior, Kylie Giebelhausen. Giebelhausen moved into ninth on SIU’s all-time scoring list and recorded her 300th career assist, as she finished with nine points and three assists in 29 minutes.
“It was a little bit surreal,” said Giebelhausen of her final regular season game. “I’m proud of what I’ve done here. I know some of my family members, my mom and some of my cousins especially, were emotional because they’ve been following me since I was a kid but I can’t really complain plus we got a win.”
SIU led from wire-to-wire in the win over Evansville (3-26, 0-18 MVC) as Southern got out to a 9-2 lead after five minutes of play and never looked back. The Purple Aces got to within one, 11-10 with 2:48 to play in the first, but Southern scored six-straight points and built a 13-point lead (32-19) at the half.
SIU doubled up Evansville in the third quarter, as the Salukis outscored the Purple Aces, 20-to-10 in the frame, with 14 of SIU’s 20 points coming in the paint. With a comfortable lead, Southern turned the game over to its reserves for the final 10 minutes.
The Salukis consistently worked the shot clock and utilized good ball movement throughout their regular-season finale, as SIU racked up 13 assists to just four turnovers.
“We wanted to work our offenses and share the ball,” fifth-year head coach Cindy Stein said of her team’s game plan going into Saturday’s contest. “Our ball movement needed to be better then it had been and I think we got that done.”
SIU’s four turnovers ties a school record low and are the fewest in a game by the Salukis in 10 years. Southern recorded just four giveaways in a 75-74 overtime win over Creighton on Jan. 20, 2008, and also tallied just four turnovers against Memphis State on March 17, 1983.
Three Salukis reached double figures in the win, led by Nicole Martin. Martin scored 13 of her 15 points in the first half and added seven rebounds, three assists and a steal in 17 minutes. It marked the sixth-straight game in which Martin has reached double figures, and the 22nd time she has done so this season.
Abby Brockmeyer notched her fifth career double-double with 10 points, 10 rebounds and three blocks while Brittney Patrick added 10 points, four boards and two steals. Brockmeyer’s five double-doubles are tied with Mary Berghuis for the second-most by a freshman in program history.
All 11 Salukis who dressed played at least nine minutes and 10 of 11 scored. Southern won the rebounding battle, 39-to-32, which included 16 offensive boards.
Southern will now turn its attention to the 2018 MVC Tournament and Indiana State. The Salukis swept the season series against the Sycamores, including Thursday night’s 54-43 win.
When you’re trying to beat someone for the third time you have to find a way to win,” Stein said. “They’re going to do something different, you don’t know what its going to be. They have a week of practice, we have a week of practice. We’ll tweak a few things, they’ll tweak a few things. It’s going to be another gritty ballgame and we are looking forward to it.”
The Salukis are next in action at next week’s MVC Tournament in Moline, Ill. Southern, who holds the No. 4 seed, will take on Indiana State on Friday, March 9 at 2:30 p.m.
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