(All photos by Scott Kane)
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EDWARDSVILLE – Jaida Hampton came off the bench for a game-high 14 points Sunday as SIUE celebrated its regular season home opener with a 68-56 victory over Purdue Fort Wayne at First Community Arena.
"I'm excited about our momentum and energy that we came into the game with after a long Thanksgiving break at home for the holidays," said SIUE Head Coach Samantha Quigley Smith, who recorded her first regular season win at First Community Arena. "Coming out with energy was really important, so our group definitely did that in the first quarter."
SIUE, 3-2 overall, jumped out to a 18-4 start in the first period and never looked back. The Cougars led the complete game and have now won three straight games.
Hampton shot 5 of 14 from the field and hit all four of her free throw attempts. Gabby Nikitinaite and Ajulu Thatha joined Hampton in double figures with 13 and 10 points, respectively.
Hampton, a redshirt transfer from Wichita State, has seen her role increase over the first five games.
"I would say just trusting the process, especially trusting my teammates and my coaches and them trusting me," she said. "Just being able to get back into the flow of playing the game that I know how to play."
SIUE's swarming defense was cause for 21 PFW turnovers as the Cougars turned that into 17 points off those turnovers.
The Cougars also crushed the Mastodons on the boards, outrebounding the visitors 50-33. That included 20 offensive rebounds with 10 different Cougars grabbing basketballs from the offensive glass.
Thatha was the leading rebounder for SIUE with eight.
The Mastodons picked up 11 points from Riley Ott and 10 from Shayla Sellers. Purdue Fort Wayne shot 35.7 percent from the field (20-56) and 23.1 percent from three-point range (3-13) while connecting on 86.7 percent from the free throw line (13-15).
SIUE set the tone early with a layup by Mikayla Kinnard 80 seconds into the game. A 12-2 run in the first period put PFW on the defensive early. Purdue Fort Wayne's smallest deficit after the first period was eight points.
As a team, SIUE shot 24 of 70 from the field (34.3 percent).
"We just have to be more consistent," said Smith. "We had a lot of things close to the basket where we needed to finish, control ourselves and get ourselves in a place to extend the lead. And that'll come with more and more consistency with having a lead and keeping a lead."
SIUE next travels to Missouri for a 7 p.m. tip-off Thursday. That is the final nonconference road game of the season as the Cougars will enjoy six straight home games in December leading into the Ohio Valley Conference season.
"I'm just excited for more home games, and that's what we're going to get in December," said Smith. "Just on the road once against Missouri and then we come back home for quite a long stretch, so we're excited to play in front of more family, friends, community supporters, everyone."
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