CARBONDALE, Ill. - Junior Raven Berry banked-in a 10-foot jumper at the buzzer sending the game into overtime where the SIUE women's basketball team controlled play en route to a 70-60 win at SIU Carbondale Saturday afternoon in the first-ever meeting between the sister schools.

Berry corralled an offensive rebound sending up her shot that beat the buzzer tying the score 52-52 heading into overtime.

"We knew we needed a bucket," SIUE Head Coach Amanda Levens said. "It was a great play by Raven to stay with it. She shot it over size and did a great job finishing it."

Freshman Tierny Austin and the Cougars dominated the finish for its first road win of the season.

Austin led the way scoring seven of her nine points in extra time. SIUE, now 4-2 on the season, opened with a 10-0 run to take command in overtime, where it won for the second time in bonus play this season. The Salukis dropped to 2-4 on the year with the loss.

"Tierny came out on fire and did a great job getting some points on the board for us," Levens added.

SIU Carbondale's all-time leader in three-point baskets Teri Oliver quickly put the Salukis on the board with a three pointer on the opening possession of the game.

The Cougars answered with back-to-back baskets by Michaela Herrod and Raven Berry giving them a 4-3 lead but SIU Carbondale scored with the next six points for a 9-4 advantage.

Valerie Finnin hit her first three-pointer of the season at the 11:10 mark to put SIUE back in front 15-13 and Jazmin Hill followed with a three-point basket of her own to increase the lead to 18-13.

A pair of free throws by Katie Hempen gave SIUE a nine-point advantage 24-15 with 4:18 to play. Hempen and Austin came up big for the Cougars in the first half drawing a pair of charging violations each leading to points on the other end of the floor.

Hill connected on another three pointer to build the lead to double-digits 27-17 before SIUE held on for a 29-22 advantage at halftime.

"We played well in the first half and were in a good rhythm but came out sluggish in the second half. It was a battle of wills," Levens said.

SIU Carbondale opened the second half on a 9-0 run by pressing the Cougars and forcing three turnovers in the first three minutes until Austin converted her only basket of regulation to even the score 31-31.

The Cougars struck back with consecutive threes from Hempen and Hill to push ahead 39-33.

Berry took a perfect inside pass from Courtney Kenner and hit the open layup before adding a free throw extending the lead to 44-38 with 9:46 to play in the second half.

The Salukis held the SIUE offense in check as they climbed back into the game with an 8-0 run over the next six minutes eventually taking a 46-45 lead.

Trailing by two for the final 50 seconds of regulation, the Cougars secured three of their season-high 20 offensive rebounds leading to the buzzer beater by Berry.

The SIUE underclassmen took the game over for SIUE in overtime as Austin drained a three pointer from the top of the key and Hempen hit a jumper.

Hill continued the hot shooting with her fourth from behind the arc and the Cougars rolled through the five-minute extra period for the 70-60 victory.

"I think we saved up a lot of our points for overtime. We had a lot of trouble scoring in the second half and credit that to their defense," Levens said.

Berry led SIUE to the win behind 17 points and 15 rebounds, including five on the offensive glass. Hill and Hempen also reached double-figures scoring 12 and 11, respectively.

SIU Carbondale's Cartaesha Macklin led all scorers with 20 points while its leading scorer Teri Oliver was held to 12.

"This is going to be a good battle when they come back to our place next season," Levens added.

The Cougars will return home from its three-game road trip to face Bradley Tuesday night at 5:30 p.m.

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