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Friday, December 21, 2007 | Women's Basketball

SIU, Creighton Earn Road Wins, Missouri State Wins at Home; Women's Basketball Recap - 12/21

Valley teams earned a pair of road wins and another victory on a home floor in Friday night women's basketball action. Southern Illinois picked up their third-straight victory with a road win at Tennessee Tech while Missouri State had an offensive explosion, scoring a league-best 97 points in a home win over Canisius. Creighton was a road winner over Oral Roberts, their third away win of the season. In other action, Evansville was the victim of a last-second lay-in in a one-point loss at Wright State and Northern Illinois topped UNI.

Southern Illinois 87, Tennessee Tech 69

COOKEVILLE, Tenn. - The Southern Illinois women's basketball team put four players in double-figures, including a team-high 20 points from freshman Ellen Young in her first collegiate start to power past Tennessee Tech, 87-69, Friday night in the Eblen Center.

The Salukis picked up their third-straight victory to bring their record to 4-5 on the season, while Tennessee Tech, picked to finish fifth in the Ohio Valley Conference this season, dropped to 1-10 on the year.

Jayme Sweere and Erica Smith pitched in 18 points and a team-high six boards each, while Jasmine Gibson added 17 points and three rebounds in the win. All three players battled foul trouble in the second half, Sweere fouling out with under four minutes left in the game.

The Salukis return home for a three game home stretch to start the new year. Saturday, Dec. 29, SIU hosts Wisconsin-Green Bay in their final regular-season game before opening Missouri Valley Conference play against Indiana State Jan. 3.

Missouri State 97, Canisius 89

Behind Maggie Dwyer’s career-high 29 points and the three-point shooting of Melissa Busby, the Missouri State Lady Bears outlasted Canisius Friday (Dec. 21) evening, 97-89, in women’s college basketball at Hammons Student Center. MSU shot a season-high 50 percent from the floor, including 15-of-31 from three point range, in its best offensive showing since the 2002-03 season.

Dwyer established a new career scoring high for the third consecutive game, pouring home 17 in the second half to help the Lady Bears turn around a one-point halftime deficit and pick up their second win of the season. Busby scored 18 in the opening stanza and drained seven three-pointers in all to total 23 points, just one shy of her career-best scoring night.

Missouri State took control of the game for good when Dwyer’s three-point play with 16:18 left in the game turned a 54-52 Lady Bear lead into a five-point advantage and sparked a 29-14 run that saw MSU stretch its lead to 17 points with just over seven minutes to play.

Busby kicked off an 8-0 run with her seventh three of the game with 10:16 left on the clock. Jacque Griggs scored on the Lady Bears’ next possession, and Marisha Brown’s trey moments later made it a 76-63 ballgame. After that, the Golden Griffins cut the deficit to single digits just once before Amanda Cavo’s seventh three of the night at the horn provided the final scoring margin.

Dwyer accounted for 12 points during the decisive Missouri State scoring spurt and finished the night 10-of-21 from the floor. Busby’s seven triples ranks sixth all-time at Missouri State, matching the single-game performances of four other Lady Bears.

The Lady Bears came out firing in the first half, building a 21-5 lead behind Busby’s hot hand, as the sophomore guard knocked down five three-pointers in the first seven minutes of the ballgame. She connected on her first try from beyond the arc at the 17:18 mark, then went on to hit four more over the next three and a half minutes to give the Lady Bears an early 16-point lead with 13:54 to go in the period.

But Canisius ran off the next 15 points unanswered to close the gap to one point on Cavo’s trey with just under 10 minutes to go.

Dwyer scored nine of the Lady Bears’ next 13 points to help MSU extend its advantage back to eight points at the 6:04 mark. Despite shooting .500 (10-of-20) for the half from three-point range, the Lady Bears found themselves down 44-43 at the break, as the Golden Griffins answered with an 18-9 spurt to close the half, taking their first lead of the game on Brittané Russell’s three-pointer at the buzzer.

Despite the loss Canisius (4-7) turned in a strong offensive performance, hitting .438 from the field and 12-of-28 (.429) three-point tries. Cavo and Russell each turned in career scoring nights, finishing with 28 and 25 points, respectively. Springfield native Laura Buetow and Ellie Radke also finished in double figures for Canisius with 10 points apiece.

Senior guard Tahnee Balerio contributed her best all-around game of the season with a 17-point, 10-assist effort, and Brown gave the Lady Bears a big lift off the bench with a 14-point night.

The Lady Bears (2-8) will be back in action on Dec. 29 when they travel to Bowling Green, Ky., for their final non-conference matchup of the season against Western Kentucky at 4 p.m.

Creighton 60, Oral Roberts 57

TULSA, Okla. Kristina Voss scored a career-high 16 points for the Bluejays as the Creighton women’s basketball team defeated Oral Roberts 60-57 Friday night at the Mabee Center. The Bluejays wrap up their non-conference schedule with a 7-4 record, while dropping the preseason Summit League favorite to 7-4 as well.

Voss scored the first three baskets of the game for the Bluejays en route to her career-high. Creighton made its first four shots of the game and five of its first six while building a quick 11-5 lead in the opening minutes. The Jays led by as many as eight in the first half, up 21-13 after another Voss basket with 9:32 to play in the opening frame. The Golden Eagles would fight back to tie the score at 29 with just over two minutes to play, but the Bluejays held a 34-31 lead at the half.

ORU came out on fire to start the second half, draining the first three shots after the break to take a 37-34 lead just 90 seconds into the half, the first of four second-half lead changes. The Eagles led until a basket by Voss and a quick steal and layup by Kelsey Crites gave the Jays a 42-41 edge with 15:32 still to go.

The Golden Eagles would fly back into the lead with 8:25 remaining, when Janae Voelker’s layup put ORU ahead 53-51. After the Jays tied it at 53 on a Megan Neuvirth score with 7:38 left, another Voelker bucket put ORU up 55-53 with 6:16 remaining. Ally Thrall tied the game at 55 with two free-throws at 5:58.

Neither team would score again until Voss, who had gone to the bench at 10:57 with her fourth personal foul, re-entered and scored on her first touch of the ball with 2:15 to go. Thrall hit two more free-throws to put the Jays up 59-55. ORU snapped a five minute scoring drought with a late layup, but the Jays held on for the three-point road win, handing the Eagles their first home loss of the season.

Voss scored 12 of her career-high 16 points in the opening half, missing much of the second half because of foul trouble. The center again enjoyed matching up against ORU, as for the second straight season she established a career-high point total against the Eagles. Last year in Omaha, Voss put up 15 against ORU. She finished 7-of-11 from the field and 2-for-3 at the line Friday night.

Freshman Kelsey Woodard scored 11 points in her first collegiate start, all coming in the first half. The guard tied her career-best with five rebounds in the game. Thrall also finished with 11 points, making 2-of-4 three-pointers and 5-of-6 free-throws, while leading the team with four assists.

Sam Schuett topped the team with a season-high 11 rebounds, as CU out-worked ORU on the boards, 43-32. Megan Neuvirth came off the bench for the first time this season and added eight boards and a team-best two steals.

The Jays played without co-leading scorer, senior Sara Cain. The forward did not travel to Tulsa because of family matters.

ORU was led by Rachel Watman’s 16 points, while Voelker finished with 15 points and a game-high 14 rebounds.

The Bluejays now take a 14-day break their longest in-season break since 1985-86 before opening Missouri Valley Conference play at home against Wichita State on Jan. 4.

Northern Illinois 61, UNI 46

DeKalb, Ill. -- Cold shooting doomed the University of Northern Iowa women's basketball team in a 61-46 loss at Northern Illinois on Friday. The Panthers shot a season-low 23.5 percent (12-of-5) from the floor, while the Huskies connected on 50 percent (19-of-38) of their attempts.

Jacqui Kalin led UNI with 11 points, and Traci Ollendieck finished with 10 points and eight rebounds.

Northern Illinois (4-7) jumped out to an early 5-0 lead. Alexa Mennen knocked down a three at 16:26 to put the Panthers (4-6) on the board and cut the NIU lead to 5-3. The Huskies went on to score the next five points, building a 10-3 lead with 13 minutes on the clock.

Kalin and Nicole Clausen each connected on a pair of free throws to pull the Panthers within three, 10-7. A basket from Whitney Lowe stretched the NIU lead back to five, 12-7, but Lizzie Boeck connected on the block and Kalin scored on a coast-to-coast layup to pull UNI within one, 12-11 with 10:45 remaining in the half.

At 9:27, Kalin knocked down a pair of free throws to give UNI its first lead of the game, 13-12.

The teams traded baskets and one-point leads until NIU used baskets from Jessie Wilcox and Shari' Welton on back-to-back possessions and a pair of free throws from Mauvolyene Adams to go on a 6-0 run and build a 20-15 lead with 4:18 on the clock.

Ollendieck grabbed an offensive rebound, and the putback cut UNI's deficit to 20-17.

Wilcox hit a pair of free throws, and Tara Michels connected from three-point range on the right wing to stretch NIU's lead to 25-17 with 2:21 remaining in the half. That would go on to be the halftime score.

Danielle Wubbens scored on the Panthers' first possession of the second half to pull UNI within six, but Wilcox hit a three from the left baseline to give NIU a 28-19 lead with 19 minutes to play.

Leading 29-21, Wilcox knocked down a jumper to give the Huskies their first 10-point lead of the game. Kalin found Boeck under the basket for two to cut the Panthers' deficit to single digits, but Becky Smith scored from in the paint to keep the NIU lead at 10.

After a pair of free throws from Kylie York gave NIU a 12-point lead, Ollendieck connected from behind the arc to pull UNI within nine, 35-26 with 13:51 to play.

The Huskies scored the game's next five points to build a 40-26 lead with 10:21 remaining.

The Panthers responded with baskets from Wubbens and Ollendieck on consecutive trips that trimmed the NIU to 40-30 with 9:28 to play.

The Huskies put together a 6-0 run over the next two minutes to stretch their lead to 46-30.

UNI eventually closed the gap to 13 but could not get any closer on the way to the loss.

The Panthers return to action on Dec. 29 as they wrap up their five-game road swing with a game at South Dakota State.

Wright State 71, Evansville 70

DAYTON, OhioWright State freshman guard Shey Peddy’s driving lay-up as time expired Friday night capped a torrid offensive performance by the host Raiders and powered Wright State to a 71-70 victory over the visiting University of Evansville Purple Aces at the Ervin J. Nutter Center in Dayton, Ohio.

The Raiders as a team shot 57.8 percent from the floor and an even 50.0 percent from three-point range on the night. Peddy led a pack of four Raiders in double-figures with 16 points on 7-of-8 shooting from the floor.

Peddy’s driving lay-up came after one of 20 costly turnovers by Evansville. The Purple Aces took a 70-69 lead with 24 seconds remaining on a pair of free throws by junior forward Shannon Novosel. The Raiders had a shot to take the lead with just under 10 seconds remaining, but a three-point attempt by LaShawna Thomas came up strong and Evansville grabbed the rebound on a tie-up situation. The Purple Aces would not maintain possession though, losing the inbounds pass, giving Peddy and the Raiders a chance to pick up the victory.

Evansville led by as much as 10 points in the first half, as Novosel scored eight of her 12 points in the first 20 minutes to help power a balanced UE attack. The Raiders would never go away though, using a 6-0 run to close the first half to trim the UE lead back to just one point, 35-34, at the intermission.

After the two teams exchanged leads three times to open the half, the Raiders used a 9-2 run to open up a seven-point lead, 54-47, with 10:42 to play. UE would answer back behind three-pointers by junior guard Ashley Austin and senior guard Rebekah Parker, but the Purple Aces would hold no higher than a one-point lead the rest of the way.

Peddy and Thomas both scored 16 points to lead Wright State, while Whitney Lewis added 15 points and Sierra Crayton chipped in 12. Parker paced UE with 15 points and six assists, while Novosel added 12 points and six rebounds. Senior guard Courtney Felke added 10 points as well.

With the victory, Wright State improves to 3-8 overall. Evansville, meanwhile, evens its record at 5-5. The Purple Aces will now take 13 day off for the holiday season before opening up Missouri Valley Conference play on January 3 against Illinois State at Roberts Stadium. Tip-off is set for 7:00 p.m. and the game can be heard live in the Tri-State area on 91.5 F.M.-WUEV.