Megan McCracken had 14 points and Holly Hallstrom matched a career high with 15 rebounds and the Redbirds led wire-to-wire in a 66-59 victory over Southern Illinois Sunday at SIU Arena.
Redbird coach Robin Pingeton thought her team toughed it out.
Its tough to win on the road, said Pingeton, whose team earned its second league road win of the year. We knew we would get Southerns best shot and we did. Southern had everything to gain and nothing to lose. I dont care how ugly (the stat sheet) is, when you hold an opponent under 60 points on the road and do the things we did today, its a great win.
The Salukis, 3-22, 1-15 in the Missouri Valley Conference had four players in double figure scoring and stayed on the Redbirds heels the whole game. One of those wasnt SIU scoring leader Danette Jones, who was just 2-for-11 from the field and had six points after seeing a lot of Jaci McCormack when the Salukis had the ball.
They set a lot of screens for her (Jones), said McCormack, who contributed 12 points, six rebounds and three assists in addition to her defensive work. She moves well. We didnt want to give her good looks. But the great thing about this team is that, when we win, its a team effort. Everyone contributed today.
The Redbirds, 10-16, 7-10 in the Valley, saw Amber Shelton nearly collect her first career double-double with 11 points and nine rebounds and Katie Donovan have a solid game despite going 0-for-11 from the field. Donovan made all eight free throws, added seven rebounds and a team-high five assists to the mix.
When your shots arent falling, you have to get things done defensively, said Donovan. I think a lot of people contributed today and we got on the boards tough. We played hard on defense and Holly and Amber had big games on the boards.
ISU made nine of its first 15 shots, but just 12 of their next 40 to shoot just 38 percent for the game. But the Birsd held SIU to 36 percent and had a 44-39 rebounding edge as well.
McCracken and Ashley Sandstead hit three-pointers during a 12-0 Redbird run which started at the 12:59 mark of the first half helped ISU open a 24-10 lead. But the Redbird offense went cold, making just one of its next 10 shots as SIU hit 9 of 13, mostly inside, to crawl back to within one point on two occasions. Late free throws by McCormack and Hallstrom helped ISU take a 36-32 lead to the locker room.
Donovan converted her first four first-half free throws to break Pam Tanners Illinois State career record of 339 career free throws made. Now the all-time leader, Donovan has 344.
Southern Illinois never folded. ISUs lead was just 47-44 before McCracken drained a three-pointer and, after ISU forced a turnover, McCormack hit a spinning jumper to put the Birds ahead 52-44 with 9:04 left. SIU went five minutes without a score through the mid-section of the second half and the Redbirds, buoyed by Sheltons inside play, took a 59-48 lead into the final five minutes.
