Purdue Fort Wayne
Illinois
Fighting Illini Tough Competition for IPFW
12/17/2006 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Dec. 17, 2006
Urbana-Champaign, IL - The Mastodons faced Big Ten competition for the second time in a row, traveling to the University of Illinois on Sunday. The Fighting Illini fought hard, defeating the 'Dons 74-47 at Assembly Hall.
"It was pretty good for about the first 25 minutes," said Head Coach Chris Paul. We cut their lead to two, and we were right there, but then it snowballed into baskets for them and a six point lead turned into 20 in just six minutes. That is really where the game was lost for us."
After an early 4-0 run by Illinois the 'Dons got on the board after Nanyamka Moore connected from beyond the arc at 17:19 to make it a one point game. The Fighting Illini would go on another 4-0 run to take a five point lead at 16:45.
A 6-0 run by the Mastodons would give them their first lead of the game after Ashley Johnson connected on a jumper at the 13:36 mark.
It was back-and-forth from there, with the 'Dons taking another lead at the 11:46 mark off another three-pointer by Moore. IPFW was up 14-12 but Illinois would quickly tie the game up at 14 on their next shot.
With just under ten minutes left in the first half the 'Dons tied the game at 16. The Fighting Illini would start to pull away from there, going on a 15-6 run to take their largest lead of the half, nine with two minutes left.
Juliane Höhne would cut the lead to seven at the end of the half, 31-24.
"We competed well in the first half. We were only out-rebounded by two and Illinois is a big and athletic team. They only had a seven point lead at half. I was pleased with our first half performance."
The Mastodons started the second on a roll, cutting Illinois' lead to two with 18:02 left in the game. After six good free throws and a jumper by the Illini they were back up by eight.
Illinois would take their first double-digit lead with 14:37 left after a lay-up put them up by 11. Illinois would take it from there, posting a 30 point difference with just under a minute left. Hilary O'Connell would connect for a three-pointer with 23 seconds left, cutting the difference to 27 points. The Fighting Illini would take it from there, 74-47.
"We were good the first five minutes then we stopped working. We got soft and panicked a bit, and you can't do that against a good team. Illinois hasn't lost a game at home this season. We can't have stretches were we lose our focus like we did today. We'll head home and get ready for another tough match-up with Northern Iowa on Thursday."
Johnson, Moore and O'Connell each posted eight points for IPFW. Johnna Lewis-Carlisle had seven and Höhne added six.
Samantha Edwards had three blocks, a steal, four points and three boards for the afternoon. Johnson, Moore and Höhne each had four boards.
The Fighting Illini had four ladies in double figures; Lori Bjork (15 pts.), Rebecca Harris (12 pts.), Jenna Smith (11 pts.) and Danyel Crutcher (10 pts.). Smith and Lacey Simpson led on defense with eight boards each.
The Mastodons will head to Northern Iowa on Thursday before hosting the Marygrove College Mustangs on Saturday December 23rd at 1 PM in the Gates Center.
~Dons~
