"I thought things really came around," seventh-year head coach Cindy Stein said. "I thought our second quarter defense was stellar. We had a really good inside-outside game, all game long. We got big games from Makenzie Silvey and Nicole Martin. I felt like we had really good scoring throughout the lineup."

Martin and Silvey led the way. Martin finished a rebound shy of a double-double, as she scored 23 points on 9-of-13 shooting to go along with nine rebounds.

"Nicole has been frustrated with her last couple games and it was good to get her going," Stein said. "I think she made much better reads and I was glad to see her hitting the boards hard. We've really been pushing her to do that."

Silvey was just as efficient, as she scored 22 points on 10-of-14 shooting. The Glen Carbon native was the catalyst of SIU's big second quarter, as she scored 16 points on 7-for-7 shooting in the stanza.

"What I loved about Makenzie's second quarter was that she was taking the ball to the basket and getting to the free throw line," Stein said. "She was really special today and she did some things that you can't teach. She has a knack for knowing how teams are defending her and how to take advantage."

Abby Brockmeyer added 11 points, six rebounds and two blocks while Brittney Patrick chipped in seven points, five assists and four boards. 11 of the 12 Salukis that played scored at least one basket.

"There were kids that came off the bench and made good strides," Stein said. "Rachel Pudlowski, Lauren Hartman, Awa Keita and Payton McCallister all did a really good job of coming in and playing their roles."

The win was a complete team effort, as Southern shot 55% from the field, including 53.8% from behind the arc and made 80% of its free throw attempts. A stifling Saluki defense hounded EMU's shooters all game. Southern held Eastern Michigan to 30.4% (21-of-69) shooting from the floor, including just 25.0% (5-of-20) from three-point range. Southern also had five players record at least one steal and forced 13 turnovers.

After Eastern Michigan took an 18-16 lead at the end of the first quarter, Southern scored 14 of the first 16 points of the second quarter to race out to a double-digit lead. From there, the Eagles never got closer than 15 points and the Salukis led by as many as 35.

The Salukis (3-2) win was their first in Michigan since 1978 in what was their first game in the Great Lake State since 2010. It also marked the first time since Dec. 18, 2018 that two SIU players went for 20-plus points in the same game.

Southern is back in action on Wednesday, Nov. 27 when it hosts St. Louis University. Tip-off is set for 2 p.m.