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APSU Lady Govs Basketball seek first win at Southern Illinois

Austin Peay Lady Govs (0-1, 0-0 OVC) at Southern Illinois (0-1, 0-0 MVC)

6:05pm (CT) | Tuesday, November 11th, 2013 | Carbondale, IL | SIU Arena (8,339)
Series: Series tied, 2-2 (SIU leads, 2-0 in Carbondale) | Streak: APSU, one win

Austin Peay State University Lady Govs - APSUClarksville, TN – Austin Peay women’s basketball team continues its season-opening road trip with a 6:05pm, Tuesday contest against Southern Illinois in SIU Arena at Carbondale, IL.

Austin Peay Women's Basketball seeks first win on the road against SIU. (APSU Sports Information)
Austin Peay Women’s Basketball seeks first win on the road against SIU. (APSU Sports Information)

The Lady Govs return to the floor after suffering a narrow 78-75 defeat at Western Kentucky, Saturday, in its season opener. Austin Peay controlled play for 36 minutes in the contest before a more-experienced Western Kentucky squad edged past in the closing minutes.

Tiasha GraySophomore guard Tiasha Gray tied her career high with 22 points on 8-of-19 shooting. Freshman guard April Rivers had the best opener by a freshman since 1999-00 with her 16-point effort.

Head coach Carrie Daniels is in her eighth season with a young squad dominated by sophomores and freshmen. Despite the large turnover from last season, Daniels fields a starting lineup with plenty of experience, Saturday’s starting five combining for 69 starts in 2012-13.

The question to be answered resides on the bench where APSU will turn to five freshman to fill in the bulk of the minutes, that quintet combining for 69 minutes in the opener.

Austin Peay will be a young squad in 2013-14 with five sophomore and five freshman dominating the 13-woman roster. The three upperclassmen are senior guards Nicole Olszewski and Lauren Yarbrough and junior guard Kristen Stainback.

Nicole OlszewskiDespite the youth, the five season-opening starters each started a contest last season, including Olszewski (22 starts) and sophomore forward Alexis Hardaway (19). The Lady Govs’ seven returnees accounted for only 808 of team’s 1700 points scored (47.5 percent). Austin Peay’s 2013-14 schedule features 11 games against nine teams that reached the 2012 postseason, including national runner-up Louisville.

Southern Illinois also opened its season with a 3-point defeat, falling to Wright State 67-64 in its season and home opener, Friday. SIU is under new leadership in 2013-14 with 16-year veteran Cindy Stein taking the reins. Stein is familiar with the Lady Govs, she faced Austin Peay twice as the head coach at Missouri, APSU posting a 1-1 record in meetings during the 2002-03 and 2003-04 seasons.

The Salukis were picked to finish 10th in the Missouri Valley Conference this season after a 5-26 campaign last season which included a 1-17 conference mark. Junior Cartaesha Macklin returns after a 465-point campaign last season and scored 12 points in SIU’s opener, giving her 972 career points entering Tuesday’s affair.

Broadcast Information

ipTV: www.SIUSalukis.com
Radio: WAPX 91.9 FM (Josh Stephenson, play-by-play)
Live Audio: www.LetsGoPeay.com | Live Stats: www.SIUSalukis.com

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