By JOHN BOHNENKAMP

EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. — Western Illinois’ women’s basketball team had plenty of wins in the nonconference portion of the schedule, but that wasn’t the statement the Leathernecks wanted to make.

Sunday’s 81-75 win over SIU-Edwardsville in the Leathernecks’ Ohio Valley Conference opener was a good first step, freshman Raegan McCowan said.

“We’re in a new season,” said McCowan, who had 17 points. “We’re trying to leave the noncon in the past. We had a really good nonconference season. But honestly, all of that we’re trying to leave behind, get a fresh start here in the conference, and I think we showed everyone what we really can do.”

The Leathernecks went 9-2 in the nonconference portion of the schedule, with their only losses coming at Wisconsin and at Kansas City. And even before the season started, Western Illinois was picked 10th in the 11-team conference in the program’s first year in the league since leaving the Summit League in the offseason.

“We came in with a chip on our shoulder,” McCowan said. “And on the road, we knew it was going to be a tough game.”

“We were like, ‘Let’s get this, let’s go,’” said Jasmine Nichols, who had 11 points and 11 rebounds. “We were all excited.”

The Leathernecks led 27-13 after the first quarter, then held off runs by SIUE (3-12, 0-2) throughout the rest of the game.

Western Illinois coach JD Gravina said his team’s motivation was evident right away.

“I thought you kind of saw that when we came out,” he said. “We’ve just got to keep that emotion going a little longer, which is hard. I think we got going so well in the first quarter, it just felt a little easy.”

The Leathernecks were playing without center Alissa Dins, who is out indefinitely with an ankle injury. But Gravina liked how Nichols responded with extended minutes in Dins’ place.

“She’s such a good defender, such a good rebounder, such a good passer,” Gravina said of Dins. “And you could see they came out right away and attacked the post. But I thought our team stayed in rhythm, and I thought Jasmine really stepped up and I was really excited for her.”

“I was like, we’ve got to suck it up because she wasn’t here,” Nichols said. “We’ve got to hold on until she gets back.”

Allie Meadows led the Leathernecks with 18 points and added nine rebounds. Mallory McDermott came off the bench to score 15 points. Anna Deets added 12. Addi Brownfield had 11 rebounds.

Molly Sheehan and Halle Smith each had 21 points for SIUE.

Photo: WIU’s Anna Deets (center) gets tied up by SIUE’s Macy Silvey late in Sunday’s game.