SALEM, WV - The Tigers looked to bounce back after an 0-3 showing on their road trip to start the year as they hosted the Griffins of Seton Hill for their home opener of the 2023-24 season. Salem suffered two tough losses prior to tonight's matchup and tonight was theirs to right the ship.

The Tiger offense which had looked stagnant at times came out firing in the first quarter of tonight's game. Both teams started the quarter slow offensively but in the closing minutes, Salem turned it on. It was a mix of Tigers scoring, but the show was led by point guard, Teodora Popovic, who was giving the Griffins fits defensively as they just did not seem to have an answer for the transfer from George Mason. Salem posted their best offensive quarter of the season so far and led the Griffins 20-16 at the end of one.

The Tiger offense stayed hot in the second quarter with notable contributions from Anete Bluma, Anna Machytkova, and Casandra Smith. Salem's defensive pressure remained on top of the Griffins as the Tigers forced them to take outside shots with their strong defensive presence in the paint. The shots just were not falling for Seton Hill and they found themselves in a thirteen-point hole to end the half with the Tigers leading 46-33.

Coming out of the half Salem had an opportunity to put this one out of reach for the Griffins and they took it. Salem yet again scored twenty in the quarter making that three in a row where they scored 20+ points. Defensively, Salem had their best quarter of action yet. They held Seton Hill to just fourteen points on 5/15 shooting, absolutely smothering them for 10 minutes.

With a nineteen-point lead entering the fourth all the Tigers had to do was maintain their lead. Seton Hill made a run at the Tigers in the fourth to give them a scare. They got away from their half-court sets and turned to a run-and-gun transition offense which worked well for them against a tired Salem defense. In the end, it was too little too late for Seton Hill as the Tigers walked away victorious 84-75.

The Tigers will be back on their home court Saturday when they host West Liberty University for their next regular season matchup at 2:00 pm.

SALEM STAT LEADERS:

Points: Liliani Krause (18)

Assists: Teodora Popovic (11)

Rebounds: Anna Machytkova (7)

Blocks: Anna Machytkova (3)