Women's Basketball 2022-23

Hmmm. Not sure who this new PA guy is but not really vibing him. 

Well - That was a better start than the last time we played. 

After 1 

Southern 16

Belmont 14

Looks like Taylor isn't taking any shit from Belmont two blocks and 3 boards. 

Well crap.. Jones and Taylor pick up their second fouls early in the 2nd. Gonna need someone to step it up.

...and Williams picks up her second. No scoring on the floor for us. Gonna have to run clock to keep this one from getting away from us. 

Well that could have been a lot worse. 

Halftime

Southern 26

Belmont 33

We had a six point lead then foul trouble hit. 

Weird play at the end of the 3rd. Taylor was fouled at the horn which put us in the bonus. She hit 1 of two to make it....

SIU 47

BELMONT 54

Need a big 4th from Jones.

No Jones, no go. At least this was better than getting beat by 56.

Final

SIU 70

BRUINS 80

Jones missed 8 minutes in the second. She got her shots but just couldn't hit. Q with 15. Taylor with 11/8 and 5 blocks. Jones with 11. Mason with 10

SIU 9-15 (6-9) vs Murray State 12-12 (5-10)

Sunday, Feb 19th 5pm Banterra Center

Video ESPN+

Audio Streaming Saluki Sports Network/95.1 Steve FM

WarrenNolan.com Prediction: SIU -4

Wait A Minute – Wasn’t This Team Picked Third?

What happened! Even I thought Murray was a top four team going into this season. Fellow OVC defector Belmont had early problems but righted their ship. Murray started 4-2 in conference play but fell apart and lost their next seven that started with an 81-73 loss to us in Murray on January 20^th. The Racers broke their losing streak last weekend pounding Evansville at home 80-60. They lost Friday night in Springfield to the Lady Bears in double overtime 92-86. The Racers had three late leads in regulation and both overtime periods  The Lady Bears closed out the second overtime with an 8-0 run to win it.

The Racers currently sit at 131 NET 183 RPI 174 SOS

Tale Of The Tape:

                             MSU       SIU

PPG                      67.5       72.2      

Pts Allowed         63.4       74.7

FG%                      .426       .419

FG% OPP             .415       .434

3pt%                     .341       .332

3pt % OPP           .316       .366

FT%                       .798       .688

Rebounds            37.5       35.8

Reb OPP              31.6       39.3

Assists                  15.5       14.8

Turnovers           14.3       14.8      

T/O Forced          12.4       18.0

Steals                   5.3         10.2

Blocks                  1.4         4.5

Offensive Rtg     80           124

                              98.4       95.2

Defensive Rtg    244        311

                              94.5       98.1

Pace of Play        298        16

                              67.4       75.9

The last time we played the Racers they were leaders in nearly every statistical category in The Valley. Since then, they have fallen off a cliff. The only stat they continue to lead in is FT% which also places them 5^th nationally. Their defensive efficiency has dropped 140 places since January 20^th. With the conferences’ top post player and leading scorer in Katelyn Young she’s not much of a rim protector. Neither is the entire team for that matter they average just over 1 block per game and are 356^th nationally in block percentage compared to our 28^th national ranking. They are also not very good at taking the ball away as the Racers rank 342^nd in steal percentage to our 33^rd. During this stretch they have given up 5 more points per game.

Racers Dramatis Personae –

Katelyn Young a 6-1 Jr forward leads The Valley in scoring at 21.6 PPG 7.6 rebounds .517 FG%. She is 9^th nationally in PPG.

Macy Turley a 5-6 redshirt senior guard 11.8 PPG 3.1 assists/game  41.3% three point FG%.

Hannah McKay a 6 ft Junior forward at 10.1 PPG and 6.8 rebounds per game.

The starters average some pretty heavy minutes, and their role players get some minutes but aren’t overly effective.

How About Us?

Weird 5pm start time to accommodate the nationally broadcast men’s game against Bradley at 1pm. Tickets from the men’s game are good for entry into the women’s game. In the Belmont game in limited minutes due to early foul trouble Promise Taylor had a good game. 11 points on 5 of 6 shooting with eight boards and 5 blocks to expand her league leading total. Taylor is now sixth nationally in blocks and blocks per game. Her .592 FG% is good for 16^th nationally. Tamara Nard (concussion protocol) missed her 5^th straight game, but she was back on the bench. Hope she’s cleared for this one as we need the post depth. Ashley Jones reached 1000 career points early in the 3^rd quarter, but only had 11 for the game as she couldn’t get into a flow also hampered by early foul trouble. We had a five point lead then Jones and Taylor got saddled with two fouls in the opening minute of the second, then Williams got her second just a minute or so later and we were pretty much doomed from that point on - got down by seven, got as close as two but couldn’t get over the hump. We did a good job holding the final margin to 10. After seeing the Racers go to double overtime with MoSt I’m a bit leery. Let Young have her points and contain the rest of the team and I think we win this one.

GO DAWGS!!!

After what could be described as a frigid start - we didn't score for the first four minutes. 

SIU 15

MURRAY 16

Murray hit a three just before the buzzer. 

Damn we look out of sorts. Murray's Young (18pts) nearly has her average of 21 at halftime. 

SIU 22 

MURRAY 39

Only shooting 26%

Down by 19 I think? We come storming back....

After 3

SIU 56

MURRAY 60

I've tried to remain calm about MVC officiating this year. But today was horrific to the point where I wonder how good the Murray coaches line refs pockets. Murray only called for 3 fouls in the last 13 minutes. One in garbage time

Final

SIU 69

MURRAY 83

*Edited to make it more family friendly. Lol!

SIU 9-16 (6-10) vs Indiana State 10-15 (5-11)

Thursday Feb 23^rd at Banterra Center 6pm

Video ESPN+

Radio & Streaming Saluki Sports Network – 95.1 Steve FM

WarrenNolan.com Prediction SIU -11

Last Time Against The Sycs….

We came from eleven down in the fourth in Terre Haute outscoring The Trees 19-6 in the final frame. The game was sealed with a Laniah Randle block of a Del’Janae Williams three at the buzzer for a 60-58 win. Shemera Williams, in only her second game, was our leading scorer with 18.

Tale Of The Tape:

                           ISU-B     SIU

PPG                      62.7       72.1      

Pts Allowed         65.3       75.0

FG%                      .391       .418

FG% OPP             .407       .438

3pt%                     .300       .332

3pt % OPP           .312       .366

FT%                       .697       .687

Rebounds            36.8       36.0

Rebounds OPP   36.5       39.1

Assists                  12.2       14.9

Turnovers           16.2       14.9      

T/O Forced          16.8       17.7

Steals                   7.7         10.0

Blocks                  2.6         4.4

Offensive Rtg     223        123

                              88.4       95.1

Defensive Rtg    168        319

                              91.3       98.7

Pace of Play        168        16

                              70.9       75.8

The Sycamores Headliners –

Del’Janae Williams 5-8 Senior G 13.3

5-7 Senior G Anna McKendree 9.6PPG/3.2 APG/2.2 Steals per game

6-0 F Chelsea Cain who averages 11.4PPG/5.5RPG

What’s Up With Us –

If I'm doing my prognosticating right...the best we can finish in the standings is seventh. Which is where we were predicted to finish. This game and Saturday’s are our last two home games before we hit the road for the Iowa swing to end the regular season. Ashley Jones had a nice comeback game with 26 points against Murray to keep her in the top four in Valley scoring. 

GO DAWGS!!!

After 1

SIU 21

ISU-B 22

Sycs shooting surprisingly well. Over 56%. 50% from deep. 

Oh joy. TAYLOR AND NARD each with two fouls. Down for the last 8 of the 2nd Q.