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Feb. 11, 2007

Final Stats

CARBONDALE, Ill. -

          The University of Northern Iowa women's basketball team could not hold onto a 10-point second-half lead as it fell 49-46 at Southern Illinois on Sunday afternoon.

            Tara King led UNI (13-11, 7-6) with 20 points and seven rebounds. Jessie Biggs added 11 points and five rebounds for the Panthers.

            Erica Smith and Erin Pauk each scored 13 points to lead SIU. Smith completed the double-double with 11 rebounds.

Southern Illinois (15-9, 11-2) scored on its first possession, but UNI put in the next five points of the game to take a 5-2 lead. The Salukis erased the Panther lead and tied the game at 6-6 on a jump shot from Erin Pauk at 13:23.

            With the score tied at 10-10, neither team scored for nearly four minutes until Tara King broke the tie with a pair of free throws that gave UNI a 12-10 advantage with 7:17 left in the half.

            A free throw from Smith cut the Panther lead to one at 3:26, but then King scored on back-to-back trips to give UNI a 18-13 lead. Biggs knocked down a pair of free throws to put UNI up by seven, 20-13 with 1:09 left in the half.

            Smith scored the first field goal for the Salukis in more than 10 minutes when she hit a three from the right baseline to cut the Panther advantage to four, 20-16 with 40 seconds left in the half. Biggs answered with a three from the left baseline with 23 seconds on the clock to return the Panther advantage to seven and send them into the break in front, 23-16.

            King hit a three on UNI's first possession of the second half to put the Panthers in the lead by 10, 23-16. The Panther lead stayed between seven and 10 points until a basket from Carlai Moore trimmed the Panther lead to six, 33-27 at 12:46.

            UNI scored four straight points to stretch its lead back to double digits, 37-27 with 12 minutes remaining. SIU scored the next four points to pull within six, 37-31 at 8:45.

            A free throw each from Traci Ollendieck and Biggs put the Panthers back in front by eight, 39-31, but a three-point play by Dana Olsen cut the UNI lead to five, 39-34 at 7:26. At the seven-minute mark, Olsen trimmed the Saluki deficit to three with a pair of free throws that made the score 39-36.

            Kristyn Ferris hit a pair of free throws to make give UNI a two-possession lead, 41-36. A free throw from Moore trimmed the Panther lead to four, then on SIU's next possession Moore came up with an offensive rebound and putback to pull the Salukis within two, 41-39 with 4:15 remaining.

            King hit a jump shot with 4:04 on the clock, marking the first field goal for the panthers in eight minutes and putting the Panthers back in front by four, 43-39.

            Debbie Burris and Dana Olsen scored on consecutive trips for SIU to tie the game at 43-43 with 2:12 on the clock.

            Smith hit a jump shot in the lane at 1:34 to put SIU in front 45-43, the first lead for the Salukis since taking the 2-0 advantage.

            Sarah Larsen hit one of two free throws to pull the Panthers within one, but Pauk knocked down a baseline jumper to give SIU a three-point lead with a minute to play.

            Biggs hit a layup with 53 seconds left to trim the SIU lead to one, then King grabbed a steal to give the Panthers the ball with 36 seconds on the clock.

            Larsen took a shot to give the Panthers the lead, but it hit off the front of the rim and SIU grabbed the rebound. UNI elected to send Pauk to the line, and the junior hit both free throws to put SIU in front by three, 49-46 with 18.4 seconds left.

            The Saluki defense did not allow the Panthers to get a good look at a three-point shot, and came up with a loose ball with two seconds left. UNI sent Olsen to the free-throw line, and after she missed both attempts Moore grabbed the rebound to seal the win for the Salukis.

            The Panthers shot 32.6 percent (15-of-46) from the floor, including 3-of-14 (21.4 percent) from three-point range. UNI finished 13-of-19 (68.4 percent) from the free-throw line.

            SIU shot 18-of-54 (33.3 percent) from the floor, and 2-of-16 (12.5 percent) from behind the arc. The Salukis were 11-of-21 (52.4 percent) from the charity stripe.

            The Salukis held a 50-28 rebounding advantage, and they turned 22 offensive rebounds into 18 second-chance points. The Panthers grabbed seven offensive boards for five second-chance points.

            The Panthers will return to action on Thursday when they host Wichita State at 7:05 p.m.