- Stephanie Glance,
Women's basketball coach
 |
Senior guard Katie Broadway scored eight points to go along with eight rebounds against the Fighting Illini. (Photo by Leah Gericke/ Staff Photographer) |
The ISU women’s basketball team had one goal entering their home match-up against in-state rival the University of Illinois Fighting Illini: to eliminate the inside-presence of Illini’s Karisma Penn and Kersten Magrum.
The Redbirds (4-4) decided early that if Illinois (4-5) was going to win the game it would be done from behind the three-point arc. Unfortunately, that is what the Fighting Illini did as they recorded seven three-pointers on their way to a 66-56 victory over the Redbirds Wednesday night, Dec. 7 at Redbird Arena.
“We took something away that is their bread and butter, that they go to, and other players stepped up and had big games,” Stephanie Glance, ISU coach, said. “We’re very disappointed because we did what we needed to do with their inside players, to be a factor in the game, and to keep ourselves in the game.”
Illinois’ Penn and Magrum were limited to four points and eight points respectively on the night. But thanks to 17 ISU turnovers, the Fighting Illini were able to capitalize often. The Illini ended the game with 21 points off turnovers.
“I felt like their guards stepped up when their inside wasn’t scoring as much as they do,” Glance said. “Their guards hit shots and did things that they don’t normally do.”
The Illinois players Glance was referring to include Ivory Crawford who scored a team-high 16 points, Amber Moore who scored 13 points with three, three-pointers, and Adrienne Godbold who scored 11 points with three, three pointers as well.
In the first half, the closest that the Redbirds got to the Fighting Illini was three points at the 10:41 mark with the score 18-15. Illinois closed the half on a mini-run though, and a jump-shot by Lydia McCully gave the Illini a ten-point lead at 36-26 heading into halftime.
In the second half, Crawford gave the Illini their biggest lead of the night at 15. Crawford hit on a three pointer near the halfway mark of the second half and the Illini led 51-36.
The Redbirds followed with a 16-8 run capped by a Candace Sykes three-pointer at the 3:04 mark to cut the Fighting Illini lead to 59-52. This was the closest the Redbirds got in the second half as the Illini ended the game with a 66-56 victory.
The Redbirds were led offensively by sophomore Marley Hall who registered a game-high and career-high 21 points and 11 rebounds. This was Hall’s third double-double on the young season. Alexis Jenkins also contributed nine points.
“It’s disappointing to me that in a big game, we don’t have a better performance than we did tonight and we don’t take care of the ball,” Glance said. “We had 17 turnovers. They scored 21 points on it. We lose the game by 10. That’s the story of the game.”