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Media Credit: Jake Lockard Senior forward Cortney Sales fights for a loose ball with Illinois State's Maggie Krick during Friday's Missouri Valley Conference Tournament quarterfinal. Despite scoring 22 points and pulling down 11 rebounds, Sales was unable to lead her team to a victory as the Salukis lost to the Redbirds 77-65.

St. Charles, Mo. --- Despite having a commanding lead for the majority of its Missouri Valley Conference Tournament quarterfinal matchup with Illinois State, the SIU women's basketball team couldn't stop junior guard Kristi Cirone when it mattered most.

The Salukis were eliminated by the Redbirds 77-65 at the Family Arena in St. Charles, Mo., Friday.

Cirone led all scorers with 27 points and showed why she is a first-team All-MVC pick with a critical three-pointer with 4:49 left in the game. The shot put Illinois State up 63-54 and never let the Salukis back into the game.

SIU took a 33-30 lead into halftime and increased the lead to 10 points with a layup from freshman forward Katrina Swingler but the Redbirds started chipping away at the lead using an 11-4 run.

With 9:01 left in the game, sophomore guard Maggie Krick hit a game-tying three-pointer. Krick finished with 14 points.

The Salukis were lead by senior forward Cortney Sales on both ends of the court.

Sales finished with a career-high 22 points and 11 rebounds and helped the post defense hold sophomore forward Nicolle Lewis scoreless.

Lewis notched a double-double in a losing effort against SIU March 6 in Normal.

In their final game, senior backcourt teammates Erin Pauk and Jayme Sweere combined for 18 points on 6-of-19 shooting.

Illinois State will advance to the semifinal game Saturday against the winner of the Missouri State/Creighton game.

More to come in Monday's edition…

Matt Hartwig can be reached at 536-3311 ext. 282 or at mhartwig@siu.edu

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