EDWARDSVILLE – SIUE women's basketball team improved to 3-0 in Ohio Valley Conference play for the first time in school history Tuesday with a 73-60 triumph over Belmont at the Vadalabene Center.
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The Cougars, 8-8 overall, won for the third consecutive time in the series with Belmont, which fell to 8-7 overall and 0-2 in the OVC. SIUE took a one-half game lead in the OVC standings.
"We really locked in," said SIUE Head Coach Paula Buscher. "Our coaching staff did a great job on the scout and how we need to play personnel, and the players locked in. They did a great job staying focused."
Shronda Butts led all players with 32 points on 11-of-25 shooting. She hit two three pointers and finished 8 of 9 from the free throw line. Butts credited her teammates for the victory.
"They're (Belmont) a great team, and we focused a lot on containing their post play," Butts said. "We did an outstanding job in help side tonight, and that's a big key as to why we won."
Belmont shot 22 of 58 from the field for 37.9 percent and hit just 28 percent (7-25) from three-point range.
"We're moving in the right direction," said Buscher. "Any time you win, you should feel good. But I told them we have a lot of work to do. Toughness is the biggest piece of it. I want to outrebound a team. I know we've been struggling with that this year."
The Cougars were outrebounded 42-34 but picked up a career-high 10 caroms from Lauren White. The redshirt sophomore posted her first career double-double, adding 11 points and a team-high four assists.
"Lauren is a kid that wants to be successful and do what we tell her to," said Buscher. "She wants to do everything well so we try to tell her to go and be a rebounder for us which is what she did well tonight."
Gwen Adams turned in her biggest offensive night of the season, finishing with 18 points. Nine points came from the field while nine more were gained from the free throw line.
"Gwen is an intellectual basketball player with a high IQ," said Buscher. "We like her coming off the bench and giving us that push. She's doing a lot of good things out there that don't show up on that stat sheet."
Sally McCabe starred for the Bruins with 14 points while Ellie Harmeyer and Kylee Smith produced off the bench with 13 and 11 points, respectively.
SIUE led most of the way, pulling out to a 21-11 lead after the first period. The Cougars took the lead as high as 21 points in the fourth period.
Ball control was a factor for the Cougars, which yielded just six turnovers, a season low. SIUE shot 25 of 64 from the field (39.1 percent) and hit all but one free throw in 18 attempts.
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