The Missouri State Lady Bears struggled out of the gate in the Missouri Valley Conference race, falling behind visiting Southern Illinois early and never recovering in a 63-38 loss Saturday evening at Hammons Student Center.
After junior guard Tahnee Balerio connected on a 19-foot jumper on the game’s first possession, Missouri State hit just 5-of-30 field goal attempts to close out the half. Keyed by a trio of Debbie Burris three-pointers, the Salukis outscored the Lady Bears 16-0 over an eight-minute, forty-second period to sieze control of the contest. Springfield native Jayme Sweere also turned in a big first half for SIU, scoring seven of the Saluki’s first 12 points to go along with four rebounds and a pair of blocked shots in the opening stanza.
Missouri State shot just .194 (6-of-31) for the half, marking the second-straight game the Lady Bears have posted a sub-.250 shooting percentage in a half. Last week versus Western Illinois, they connected on just 22.2% of their first-half shots before finishing at .262 (16-of-61) for the game.
Southern Illinois converted 12-of-24 field goal attempts in the half and led by as many as 23 before settling for a 34-13 advantage at the break.
The Lady Bears opened the second half with a 15-6 run to trim the deficit to 12 points on a pair of Taylor Silas free throws at the 11:50 mark. But Jasmine Gibson answered by knocking down jumpers on the Saluki’s next two possessions to spark a 14-2 SIU spurt that put the game out of reach.
Dana Olsen led Southern Illinois with 13 points on 5-of-8 shooting, while Sweere chipped in nine points, four assists, three blocks, two steals and seven rebounds.
Balerio went 7-of-14 from the floor to finish with a game-high 16 points.
The 25-point loss for MSU snapped a 19-game win streak versus Southern Illinois and represents the largest home defeat since March 7, 2002 when the Lady Bears fell to Wichita State by a 75-44 score.
With the loss, the Lady Bears fell to 0-1 in conference play and 4-6 overall, while the Salukis improved to 2-0 in The Valley and 6-7 on the season.
Next up, the Lady Bears travel to Evansville for a 5 p.m. game on Monday, Jan.1., before facing off against Wichita State next Saturday, Jan. 7., in a 12 p.m. contest at Hammons.
