Down one with 2:17 remaining in the first half, the Wright State women's basketball team closed out the period by tallying the final six points and then outscored Southern Illinois 41-24 in the second half to defeat the Salukis 75-53 Tuesday night in Carbondale, Illinois.

WSU jumped out to an 8-2 lead thanks to five straight points by Molly Fox, but Southern Illinois tied the game at eight and there were three more ties until Nneka Nwani put the Salukis up 29-28 with a layup at the 2:17 mark.

A foul shot by Shaunda Sandifer with 1:04 remaining evened the score at 29 and a Maria Bennett three followed by two Courtney Boyd free throws in the final seconds put the Raiders up for good at the break at 34-29.

Wright State shot just 35 percent from the field in the first half compared to 37 percent for SIU, including seven of 20 from three-point range, but the Raiders were seven of 10 at the line while the Salukis did not attempt a free throw.

The WSU run extended to 13-0 as the Raiders scored the first seven points of the second half to make it 41-29. Southern Illinois would get no closer than nine the rest of the way as Wright State gradually built on the advantage the rest of the way, leading by as much as 75-50 on a Boyd three with 2:23 to play.

The Raiders shot 44 percent from the floor in the second half to finish at 40 percent while the Salukis shot just 31 percent the final 20 minutes to end up at 34 percent. WSU dominated the boards by a 51-32 margin, including 21-9 on the offensive end, and led in points in the paint (18-6), points off of turnovers (24-10) and second-chance points (16-5).

LaShawna Thomas led Wright State with 23 points and added nine assists and seven rebounds while Boyd, in her first collegiate start, tallied 18 points, 13 coming in the second half, with six boards. Bennett added a career-best 16 points. Molly Fox posted a near double-double of 13 points and nine rebounds and Sandifer also had nine boards.

The Raiders (5-4) have won five nonleague games on the road this season, matching the five won in 1987-88, WSU's first season in Division I. Wright State closes out their current five-game road swing on Saturday, December 18, with a 2:00 contest at Cincinnati.