The Indiana State women’s basketball team halted a five-game losing skid in Missouri Valley Conference play with an 81-73 victory over Southern Illinois on Saturday afternoon in Hulman Center.
Kayla Smith was the offensive catalyst in the fourth quarter as she sank three 3-pointers to put it away for the Sycamores. Smith and Clemisha Prackett each tallied 15 points with Prackett grabbing 14 rebounds for a double-double.
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“I just feed off my teammates,” Prackett said.
She said if her teammates have energy, then she has energy, which she thinks is what happened Saturday.
“We needed this win for the seniors and we just needed this win in general,” Prackett said.
Sycamore seniors Samiyah Briggs, Kennedy Claybrooks, Ruth Sodipe, Da’Naria Washington and Amaya Blake were honored prior to tipoff.
Mitchell said they really wanted to win for their seniors, but more importantly they just really wanted to get a win.
“We needed a win and I think we all banded together,” Mitchell said.
The game started off with a 7-0 run by the Salukis before Briggs sank a 3-pointer to make it 7-3. After a pair of Saluki free throws from Alayna Kraus, ISU pulled within three on a Smith 3-pointer. The Sycamores seemed to sense urgency as they tied it at nine on an and-1 by Washington.
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“We just flipped a switch on that one,” Mitchell said. “Displeased on how we started the game, but for some reason [we] locked in and from that point on we were locked and loaded.”
It was a tight affair early as Cooper gave SIU the lead back on a short jumper, but Prackett tied it on a layup as the back-and-forth affair heated up. With the game tied at 16, Smith dialed up a 3-pointer to give the Sycamores their first lead of the game, 19-16 on a 5-0 run with 1:26 to go in the first quarter.
The Sycamores continued to play with an aggressive pace in the second quarter. Tierney Kelsey sank a 3-pointer to put ISU up four with 7:15 left in the second quarter. Jayci Allen sank a trey to put ISU up five with 2:27 to go in the half but SIU responded on the following possession. By halftime, ISU sat in front by one, 36-35.
In the third quarter, the tight affair continued as the two sides traded baskets and with 7:31 to go in the third quarter, Tkiyah Nelson converted a layup to put the Salukis up one. ISU went up two on a bucket by Washington after an Allen trey. While it was a tight affair, ISU seemed to have a bit more momentum on its side.
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The game pretty much stayed within a single point in the third quarter as both defenses played tough and didn’t allow too many open offensive opportunities. With the final seconds of the quarter ticking down, Tierney Kelsey drew a foul and tied it at 56 to send the two sides to the fourth quarter.
Prackett drilled a pair of free throws to put ISU up two early in the fourth quarter. The game continued to be tight from there and Prackett grabbed another bucket with defenders looming to make it 62-58. The energy picked up for ISU as Smith sank a trey to put ISU up seven, but SIU answered with a trey of its own. Smith was feeling however as she drained another 3-pointer to give ISU its seven-point lead back and then Kelsey grabbed an and-1 to put ISU up 10, 71-61.
“I think what really got me going was just my teammates picking me up,” Smith said. “I was in foul trouble, so I did have to sit for a while, but just their confidence in me.”
The Sycamores continued to build their lead as Washington drove down the court through traffic to lay it up and in to make it a 12-point game before Green answered for SIU.
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The hot offense continued, specifically for Smith as she dialed up another trey to put the Sycamores up 13 with 3:28 to go. But the Salukis found an offensive rhythm and went on a 7-0 run to cut the deficit to 78-73 with 31.2 left. With the Salukis playing the foul game, the Sycamores converted at the free throw line and escaped victorious.
SOUTHERN ILLINOIS (73) — Kraus 7-21 4-5 19, Cooper 6-15 3-3 16, Green 7-14 1-3 15, Allen 2-5 0-0 6, Thompson 1-4 2-2 4, Gaines 1-2 0-2 2, Ngoyi 0-1 1-2 1, Davis 0-3 0-0 0, Romero 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 28-71 FG, 13-20 FT, 73 TP.
INDIANA STATE (81) — Smith 5-11 0-0 15, Prackett 4-8 7-10 15, Kelsey 4-10 3-3 12, Allen 3-8 0-0 8, Briggs 3-6 1-2 8, Washington 3-11 1-1 7, Flowers 3-3 1-1 7, Claybrooks 1-7 3-4 5, Sodipe 1-1 0-0 2, Tavares 1-1 0-0 2. Totals 28-66 FG, 16-21 FT, 81 TP.
Southern Illinois 18 17 21 17 — 73
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Indiana State 21 15 20 25 — 81
3-point shooting — SIU 4-13 (Allen 2-3, Kraus 1-4, Cooper 1-6), ISU 9-21 Smith 5-8, Allen 2-4, Briggs 1-3, Kelsey 1-4, Claybrooks 0-2). Rebounds — SIU 36 (Cooper 9), ISU 49 (Prackett 14). Assists — SIU 12 (Cooper, Nelson, Thompson 3), ISU 19 (Claybrooks 8). Blocks — SIU 1 (Nelson), ISU 4 (Washington 2). Steals — SIU 8 (Cooper 4), ISU 4 (Claybrooks 2). Fouls — SIU 21, ISU 21. Fouled out — None.
Next — ISU (9-18 overall, 5-12 MVC) plays at Murray State at 7 p.m. EST while Southern Illinois (9-16, 6-10) will play at Illinois State at 7:30 p.m., both Thursday.
