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Florida hands SIU women first loss

Friday, November 28, 2008 4:07 PM CST

SIU Media Services

FREEPORT, Bahamas - The Southern Illinois University women's basketball team (2-1) dropped a hard-fought game, 67-56, to Florida (5-1) Friday afternoon to open the Junkanoo Jam tournament.

The Salukis were tied with Florida, 31-31, at halftime, but played from behind much of the second half en route to their first loss of the season.

Senior Jasmine Gibson led all scorers with 16 points and six rebounds, despite only playing 26 minutes due to foul trouble.

Senior guard Erica Smith recorded 15 points with seven boards, and freshman Alex Hart had a career-high 14 points with three assists in her first start of the season.

"Alex has great athletic ability and she showed that today," said head coach Dana Eikenberg. "Even without a lot of game time under her belt she wasn't afraid of anybody."

Southern Illinois trailed 42-40 after Smith hit a jumper with 15:44 left in the game, but Florida finally found a way to beat the Salukis tenacious 2-3 zone defense that confused the Gators for the first 25 minutes of the game.

"With there size inside, we had to play an aggressive zone to throw them off," said Eikenberg. "For the most part we did that, but late in the second half they made some big shots. I was proud of the way we defended though in a zone which is abnormal for us."

Florida extended its two-point lead to ten, 54-44, from baskets by Sharielle Smith and Steffi Sorensen, who led the Gators with 12 and 14 points.

SIU cut the lead to eight, 54-46, with six minutes to go but Florida rattled off seven consecutive points to go up by 15 with four minutes in the game.