College Basketball Roundup

CHARLESTON, Ill. – Senior Kelsey Wyss set the school record for career three pointers made on Monday night as the Panther women’s basketball team captured an 88-59 win over Austin Peay. EIU clinched a share of the Ohio Valley Conference’s West Division in the victory, improving to 11-2 in conference action.

Wyss now has 164 career three pointers, breaking the previous record of 162 set by Lauren Dailey (2001-04). Not to be outdone by her teammate, sophomore forward Sabina Oroszova set the Panther single-game record for blocks with seven.

The first 14 minutes of the game saw five ties and nine lead changes until the Panthers used an 18-2 run to take a 38-32 advantage with 21 seconds remaining in the half. Austin Peay’s Nicole Olszewski hit a three pointer as time expired to cut the Lady Govs (7-18, 2-11 OVC) deficit to 13 points (38-25) at intermission.

EIU Men 79, Murray State 70

CHARLESTON, Ill. – On a night when Eastern Illinois retired former standout Henry Domercant’s No. 44 jersey and honored its two NCAA Division I Tournament teams, it was the current group of Panthers that stole the spotlight as EIU beat Murray State, 79-70.

EIU improved to 8-19 overall, 5-9 in the OVC.  The Panthers will host Belmont on Wednesday night at 7 p.m.  MSU fell to 18-7, 9-4 in the OVC.

Murray State jumped out to a 4-0 lead with baskets by Brandon Garrett and Isaiah Canaan as both teams struggled from the field in the first six minutes.  EIU took a 7-5 lead on a three point play by Alex Austin with 13:29 to play.

The Panthers would hold the lead most of the first half stretching it to five points on back-to-back 3-pointers by Austin and Malcolm Herron.  MSU would take the lead 22-20 at 4:48 of the first half on a 3-pointer by Jeffery Moss.  MSU would shoot 39 3-pointers on the night hitting 15 of them for 39 percent.  They shot only 42 percent for the game.

Morris Woods tied the game for EIU on a jumper at 4:17 and EIU closed the half on a 9-4 run to lead 31-26.  Austin scored the final bucket of the half for EIU scoring all ten of his points in the first half.

SIUE Men 83, Austin Peay 71

EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. – SIUE men's basketball scored a season-high 47 second-half points Saturday night, but it proved to be too little too late in an 83-71 loss to Austin Peay in front of 2,436 at Vadalabene Center.

The Cougars dropped to 9-14 overall and 5-8 in the Ohio Valley Conference. Austin Peay, which defeated Eastern Illinois Thursday, won back-to-back games for the first time this season. The Governors are 7-20 overall and 3-10 in the OVC.

"That's the thing about this game.  One night you're on a high, but the next night if you don't bring that same intensity you'll be in trouble," SIUE Head Coach Lennox Forrester said.

Austin Peay jumped on SIUE from the outset and never trailed in the game. The Governors got a three-pointer from Travis Betran with 10:43 to play before halftime to go up by 22 at 28-6.

SIUE Women 79, Murray State 68

EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. – SIUE women's basketball pumped in a season-high 55 points in the second half and rallied past Murray State 79-68 Monday night at the Vadalabene Center.
 
After shooting just 23.8 percent (10-42) in the first half, SIUE did an about face and shot 66.7 percent (20-30) over the final 20 minutes.
 
"That was a fun second half," said SIUE Head Coach Paula Buscher. "This isn't a complicated game. It's about work ethic and intensity. I was very proud with how hard our team worked for 40 minutes tonight."
 
SIUE evened its record to 7-7 in Ohio Valley Conference play. Murray State dropped to 15-10 overall and 7-6 in the OVC.

Teutopolis graduate Jessie Wendt hit one of three from three-point range and was two of two at the line for five points and two rebounds.

Illinois Wesleyan Women 72, Millikin 70

The Millikin’s women’s basketball team late rally fell just one basket short as the Big Blue lost 72-70 at Illinois Wesleyan in Bloomington, Ill. Saturday.

Trailing by as many as 21 points in the second half, the Big Blue used an 18-6 run in the game’s final minutes to tie game at 70-70 with 37 seconds left in the game.  A Nikki Tipsword (Newton, H.S.) three-pointer pulled Millikin to within three with 1:22 remaining at 70-67.  After an Illinois Wesleyan miss, Big Blue junior Brittany Czaplicki (Bourbonnais, Bradley Bourbonnais H.S.) drove the floor scoring a layout and one free throw to tie the game.  Titans senior Melissa Gardner hit the game winner with 10 seconds left to play. Millikin had two shots at the basket in the final seconds, but neither shot would go allowing the Titans to hold on for the win.

Czaplicki led Millikin with 15 points and seven assists. Jasmine Johnson (Springfield, Marshalltown College) had 14 points and six rebounds.  Holly Haskins (Decatur, St. Teresa H.S.) had 13 points and Tipsword added 11 points and a team high eight rebounds.

Illinois Wesleyan is now 17-7, 10-3 while Millikin falls to 8-15, 3-10.  Millikin will conclude the season on Tuesday, Feb. 19 when they host North Central College at 7:30 p.m.

Illinois Wesleyan Men 68, Millikin Men 54

The Millikin men’s basketball team lost a hard fought battle at fourth ranked Illinois Wesleyan 68-54 on Feb. 16 in Bloomington, Ill.

Deavis Johnson (East St. Louis, H.S.) led the Big Blue with his fifth double double of the year with 15 points and a team high 10 rebounds.  Elijah Kinmon (Fairview Heights, O’Fallon H.S.) scored 14 points for the Big Blue.

Illinois Wesleyan goes to 21-3, 13-0 while the Big Blue fall to 8-16, 4-9.  Millikin will close out the season on Tuesday, Feb. 19 at Augustana College.