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CARBONDALE, Ill.—Southern Illinois senior forward Stephany Neptune finished an assist shy of a triple-double on Saturday afternoon, as she helped power the host Salukis past the visiting University of Evansville women’s basketball team, 79-68, at SIU Arena in Carbondale, Illinois.
Neptune finished her first Missouri Valley Conference game with 22 points, 13 rebounds, nine assists and six steals while helping account for 43 of SIU’s 79 points. Freshmen guards Katerina Garcia and Teri Oliver each pitched in 17 points along the perimeter, as they were recipients of many of Neptune’s nine assists.
“Stephany Neptune was an extremely tough match-up for us today,” said UE head coach Misty Murphy. “Even when we would play good defense, she would hit either a big shot or find a person open for a shot. She was really a difference-maker for SIU today.”
Evansville jumped to an early 23-10 lead in the first half, but a 12-2 run fueled by three Neptune points and more importantly three Neptune assists would quickly get SIU back within three points at 25-22 with 3:50 to play. Evansville would eventually take a 34-30 lead into the halftime locker room, but Neptune was well on her way to a double-double with seven points, eight rebounds, and six assists at the break.
SIU would turn the tables on Evansville in the second half, starting the half on a 23-11 run to grab a 53-45 lead on a lay-up by Neptune with 11:47 to play. The SIU lead would eventually grow to 10 points, 61-51, on a three-point play by Neptune with 7:46 to go, before Evansville would answer back.
A 9-0 run by the Purple Aces over the next two minutes would help UE get back within one point, 61-60, with 5:06 to go. Evansville would cut the SIU lead to one point three different times over the next two minutes, before SIU’s free throw shooting would put the game out of reach. The Salukis, who entered MVC play ranked ninth in the league in free throw shooting at 64.4 percent, would go 12-of-15 from the free throw line in the final three minutes to hold off the Purple Aces.
“Credit Southern Illinois,” said Murphy. “They hit their free throws and did the little things that they needed to do down the stretch to pick up this win. I thought that we battled back hard in the second half, but we put ourselves in a tough situation with too many turnovers in the second half.”
Evansville committed 14 second-half turnovers which led to 16 Southern Illinois points. Overall, SIU converted 22 UE turnovers into 21 points on the afternoon.
Senior guard Amy Gallagher paced Evansville’s offense for the fifth game in a row with a team-high 15 points. Junior forward Stephanie Bamberger joined her in double-figures with 12 points. Only two other UE players added more than five points on the afternoon, though.
With the victory, Southern Illinois improves to 2-9 overall and 1-0 in the MVC. Evansville, meanwhile, slips to 3-9 overall and 0-1 in the Valley. The Purple Aces will continue on a three-game MVC road trip on Thursday night at 7:00 p.m., as UE will travel to Peoria, Illinois to take on the Bradley Braves. Thursday’s game can be heard live on 91.5 F.M.-WUEV.
