ST.
LOUIS - Junior Anna Munn sank a jumper with 51.1 seconds
remaining and the Indiana State women's basketball team held the Saint Louis
Billikens without a field goal over the last seven minutes of the game as the
Sycamores earned their first road win of the season, 48-46, inside Chaifetz
Arena on Thursday night.
Indiana State improves to 4-2 on the season with the win while Saint Louis had
their two-game winning streak snapped and fall to 2-4.
The lead traded sides six times at the start of the contest before the
Sycamores took control of the half with a 12-2 run over four minutes to take a
26-17 lead with seven minutes until the break. Munn led ISU with seven points
during the run while sophomores Racheal Mahan and Natasha Zurek each added
four.
Indiana State took a 28-21 lead into the half, led by 12 points from Mahan. The
Sycamores also forced 14 first-half turnovers by Saint Louis, leading the 12
points for Indiana State.
Saint Louis came out strong from halftime, flipping ISU's nine-point lead into
a nine-point lead of their own after 12 minutes of play. A layup by Mallory
Eggert pushed SLU's lead to 42-33 with 8:43 remaining, the home side's largest
lead of the game.
Munn began Indiana State's comeback with an offensive rebound and a layup with
8:16 to go before knocking down a three-pointer out of a media timeout, cutting
SLU's advantage to 42-38 with 7:36 to play. SLU's final basket of the night
came on their next possession, a jumper by Eggert with 7:11 left in the game to
put the Billikens in front, 44-38.
Mahan converted a three-point play with 4:03 remaining to bring Indiana State
within a single point, at 44-43. Saint Louis answered with a pair of
free-throws with 3:27 to go, their final points of the game.
Mahan continued her career night with a free-throw with 3:06 remaining, before
the sophomore forward from Mansfield, Ohio, tied the game at 46-46 with a layup
as the game clock rolled under two minutes. The Sycamores forced a missed shot
on SLU's next possession, calling a timeout after senior Taylor Whitley pulled
down the defensive rebound.
The Sycamores ran the shot clock under 10 seconds after the timeout, but were
unable to feed Mahan in the post as Munn stood at the top of the key with the
basketball. The junior guard from Indianapolis, created a shot for herself and
gave Indiana State the lead, sinking a jumper just inside the three-point line
as the 30-second shot clock expired to give the Sycamores a 48-46 lead with
51.1 seconds left.
Indiana State forced another missed shot and grabbed a rebound with 38 seconds
left to play, as Saint Louis chose to play out the shot clock instead of
fouling. Munn missed an off-balance three-point attempt, as the Billikens
called timeout with just 2.4 seconds left to play. Saint Louis in-bounded to
Lorreal Jones at the top of the key, but the clock expired before a shot could
be attempted.
Mahan led ISU with a career-high 24 points, going 9-for-14 from the field with
six rebounds. Munn also went into double-figures, adding 12 points, becoming
the first Sycamore since Melanie Boeglin in 2005-06 to start a season with
six-straight double-digit scoring efforts. Whitley dished out seven assists for
the game to push her career total to an even 300, becoming just the seventh
Sycamore in school history to reach 300 career assists.
Eggert led Saint Louis with a 16-point, 10-rebound double-double while also
totaling six steals.
With their defense effort, Indiana State improves to 4-1 this season and 28-3
in their three seasons under head coach Teri Moren when allowing 61 points or
less. Over the final seven minutes of the game, ISU's defense forced SLU to
shoot 0-for-6 from the field with six turnovers.
For the game, Indiana State shot 19-for-44 (43.2%) from the field while Saint
Louis went 19-for-45 (42.2%). The Sycamores forced 23 turnovers, turning those
miscues into 21 points.
Indiana State returns to Hulman Center for their next two games, beginning with
a 7:05 p.m. matchup against Northern Illinois on Tuesday, Dec. 4.
