UIC and YSU Ride Three-Point Shooting to Wins on Wednesday Night

Women's Basketball Scoreboard (Nov. 20)
UIC 88, SIU-Edwardsville 65
Youngstown State 67, Northern Kentucky 53
#19/21 Michigan State 80, Detroit 41

UIC 88, SIU-Edwardsville 65
Senior Rachel Story scored a game-high 27 points, one off her career high, and the UIC women’s basketball team (2-2) cruised to a 88-65 road victory over SIUE (1-3) Wednesday night. The Flames had five players in double figures and shot 8-of-17 from three-point land against the Cougars.

UIC dominated the glass as the Flames outrebounded the Cougars, 49-30. UIC collected 19 offensive rebounds and Ruvanna Campbell had seven offensive caroms. The Flames held SIUE to 38.5 percent shooting (25-of-65) and the Cougars were limited to 4-of-16 from beyond the arc.

UIC drained 5-of-10 three pointers in the first half and led 43-29 at the break. The Flames led by as many as 21 early in the second half (55-34) before SIUE trimmed the lead to nine at 71-62 with 5:52 to play. UIC responded with a 10-1 run to put the game away. The Flames won by more than 20 points for the first time since a 90-67 victory over Roosevelt on Dec. 14, 2012.

Story was 8-of-13 from the field, including 5-of-8 from three-point land, and hit 6-of-8 free throw attempts. She was a perfect 4-for-4 from the field and scored 14 points over 18 minutes in the second half. Story also contributed four assists and four rebounds.

Story’s five three-pointers are a career high and she missed her career best in points by one. She scored 28 against Illinois State on Nov. 21, 2012. Emily Kobel was the last UIC player to hit five three-pointers in a game (vs. St. Louis on Dec. 3, 2012). Story now owns 12 performances of over 20 points in her UIC career.

Both Katie Hannemann and Campbell picked up double-doubles for the second consecutive contest. Hannemann had 15 points and 10 rebounds while Campbell collected 11 points and a career-high 12 rebounds. It is Hannemann’s seventh career double-double while Campbell has started her UIC career with three double-doubles in four games.

Senior Megan Wallace scored 11 first half points on the way to tying her career high of 12 points. She shot 6-of-8 from the free throw line and added seven rebounds.

Senior Emily Kobel was 3-of-7 from the field, including 2-of-4 from three-point land, to finish with 10 points. Kobel (99 career three-pointers) needs nine more made three-pointers to enter the program’s Top 10.

Youngstown State 67, Northern Kentucky 53
The Youngstown State women's basketball team made nine first-half 3-pointers and led Northern Kentucky by double digits for the final 34 minutes in a 67-53 victory on Wednesday evening at Beeghly Center.

The Penguins earned their first victory under head coach John Barnes and avenged a last-second loss at NKU last year. YSU is now 1-2 this season while the Norse dropped to 2-2.

Heidi Schlegel surpassed 20 points for the third straight game with a 22-point effort, and she was one of seven Penguins to make a 3-pointer. Karen Flagg and Liz Hornberger finished with 11 points apiece, and Flagg had a team-best seven rebounds. The Penguins, who were averaging 25 turnovers coming into the contest, limited their mistakes to just 14 tonight.

Northern Kentucky leading scorer Melody Doss, who was averaging 25.7 points entering tonight, was held to 15 points on 6-for-8 shooting. NKU's second leading scorer Kayla Thacker sat out the contest.

Youngstown State made eight of its first 10 3-point attempts and led by as many as 19 points in the first half. The Penguins made their first four attempts from distance and seven of their first eight.

After Hornberger hit a trey on YSU's first possession, Northern Kentucky scored the next five points to go up 5-3 for its only lead of the game. Schlegel's 3-pointer started a 14-0 run for the Penguins, who made shots on four of their next five possessions. Flagg's 3-pointer at the 14:28 mark gave YSU a 17-5 advantage. The Penguins led by double digits the rest of the contest.

Lauren White made a layup for NKU to stop the run at the 14:06 mark, but NKU made one field goal over the next eight minutes. YSU scored the next eight points to go up 25-7 on Jenna Hirsch's first career 3-pointer. The Penguins' largest lead of the half came when Melissa Thompson's 3-pointer at the 9:32 mark made the score 30-11.

YSU went scoreless for nearly five minutes, and NKU scored the next eight points to get within 30-19 at the 4:52 mark. Schlegel and Flagg had offensive rebounds and buckets on back-to-back possessions to stop the run, and Taylor Hvisdak hit the Penguins' ninth triple of the half at the 3:05 mark to make the score 37-19.

YSU finished 9-for-13 from the arc in the period and shot 43.8 percent overall. NKU was held to 23.1 percent in the first 20 minutes.

Northern Kentucky scored eight of the first 11 points of the second half and led by 11 twice in the first four minutes of the period. YSU scored four straight points as part of a 9-2 run, and NKU got no closer than a dozen the rest of the evening.

Youngstown State's largest lead of the contest came when Latisha Walker's layup with 5:47 put it ahead 64-43.

The Penguins shot 39.3 percent overall and finished 11-for-19 from 3-point range. Northern Kentucky shot 32.2 percent and was 2-for-24 from beyond the arc.

#19/21 Michigan State 80, Detroit 41
Junior Ellisha Crosby was in double figures again with 13 points and the shorthanded Titans left everything out on the floor in an 80-41 setback to No. 21/19 Michigan State on Wednesday night at the Breslin Center.

Crosby was 5-of-12 from the field with two assists as she was pressed into an emergency point guard role due to injuries. Senior Senee Shearer tallied nine points and three rebounds, while senior Megan Hatter finished with five points and six rebounds.

The Titans (1-4) might have been down a few players, but the fight was there for the red, shite and blue as UDM trailed by just two, 7-5, four minutes into the game. Crosby was able to get the first basket by driving to the rim and after a free throw from Shearer, Galloway was able to lay one in on the offensive end.

Later on, Shearer and Crosby – who had nine points in the first half - were able to knock down a pair of 3-pointers with the latter knotting the score at 11-all. UDM continued to play with poise turning it over just twice in the first 13 minutes, but the Spartans (3-1) went on a 29-6 run to open a 40-17 advantage with three minutes left in the period. A trey by Hatter ended that spurt and a Galloway jumper cut it to 42-22 at the break.

With Detroit just not catching any breaks on shots – the Titans had about eight rim out in the first 25 minutes – MSU scored 15-straight to begin the second stanza to take a 57-22 lead at the 13:51 mark. Sophomore DaVonna Bradford ended that with a great runner found its way in and freshman Minisha Frederick-Childress added a free throw. The freshman would then come up with a steal at find Bradford cutting the hole for a score.

Crosby would added on four points and a trifecta from Shearer cut the MSU lead to 67-36 with 7:01 left in the game. Junior Brie Wilcox also added some offense down the stretch with five points, but the Titans were turned away from an upset against MSU.

Freshman Megan Galloway scored four points and grabbed five boards and Bradford collected four points with three caroms.