Women's Basketball Scoreboard (Dec. 21)
UIC 58, Wisconsin 56
Wright State 87, Bradley 71
Youngstown State 74, Vermont 67
#rv/-- Indiana 107, Cleveland State 73
IPFW 84, Detroit 73
UIC 58, Wisconsin 56
The UIC women's basketball team (8-2) won its eighth consecutive game Saturday (Dec. 21) with a 58-56 road victory over Big Ten program Wisconsin (6-5) inside UW Field House. Rachel Story scored a game-high 25 points and hit the game-winning three-pointer with twenty seconds remaining.
The victory is the sixth win over Wisconsin in program history and the first in 34 seasons (1979-80 season). It snaps a 13-game win streak by the Badgers in the series. UIC has collected 25 Big Ten victories in program history and nine since the Flames became a Division I program in 1980-81.
The win is UIC’s third Big Ten road victory in the Division I era. The Flames have defeated Northwestern twice away from the UIC Pavilion (2002-03 & 2004-05).
The Flames’ 8-2 record is the best ten-game start in the Division I era. UIC started 9-1 during the 1976-77 and 1977-78 seasons.
It is also the first eight-game win streak since Jan. 11-Feb. 10, 2007 in the midst of a program-record 11 consecutive victories. Four of the eight victories have been over 2012-13 WNIT participants (Idaho State, Miami Ohio, Texas Southern and Butler).
“We had 11 days off after Butler and we were rusty in the win at Western Michigan. The coaches preached to the team that we had to play better to win at Wisconsin. I thought we were extremely focused tonight from the opening tip,” said UIC head coach Regina Miller. “We limited empty possessions and mixing up our defenses kept Wisconsin off balance all night. We played a lot of zone in the second half. Offensively, we did not play a perfect game but we executed on key possessions. We were very aggressive on the offensive glass and that helped us a lot tonight.”
Caitlin Garant’s layup with 4:50 left in the first half gave the Flames a nine-point advantage at 28-19 and UIC led 30-24 going into halftime. Wisconsin tied the score at 45-45 with 8:34 left in the game, the first of four ties in the second half.
Two free throws from Jacki Gulczynski with 46 seconds left gave Wisconsin a two-point lead at 56-54 and Regina Miller called a timeout. On the next possession, Terri Bender found Story wide open on the right wing and Story buried a three-pointer to put UIC up 57-56 with 20 seconds remaining.
“We moved the ball well enough against their zone on the final possession to find one of the best shooters in the nation and Rachel made a huge shot,” continued Miller. “You have to have a money player on your team to win games like this and Rachel has been making big shots for us all season.”
Morgan Paige missed a jumper with nine seconds left and a free throw from Story put the Flames up 58-56 with five seconds remaining on the clock. Following a Wisconsin timeout, the Badgers failed to get a shot off and the Flames walked away with their eighth consecutive victory.
UIC won the rebounding battle (43-33) for the ninth time this season and the Flames are 8-1 in those contests. UIC had 15 offensive rebounds, the seventh time this season that the Flames have collected at least 15 offensive caroms.
UIC collected seven steals and scored 11 points off 11 Wisconsin turnovers. The Flames also held advantages in points in the paint (28-24) and second-chance points (12-6).
Story was 10-of-20 from the field, including 3-of-6 from three-point land. She had 14 points on 6-of-10 shooting in the first half and 11 on 4-of-10 shooting in the second half. Story owns two straight 20-point efforts, four this season and 15 in her UIC career.
Story has been in double-figures in 11 straight contests dating back to last season. The Flames are undefeated (8-0) with Story in the lineup.
Redshirt sophomore Ruvanna Campbell collected her eighth double-digit rebounding effort with eight points and 11 rebounds. She had six offensive rebounds, which is one off her season-high (7) at SIUE (Nov. 20).
Bender collected a career-high nine rebounds to go along with six assists, four points and two steals. Katie Hannemann (eight points), Emily Kobel (six points) and Garant (six points) all hit clutch shots for the Flames. Kobel made two-three pointers (105 career made three-pointers) and needs two more three-pointers to enter the program’s Top 10.
Wright State 87, Bradley 71
Youngstown State 74, Vermont 67
The Youngstown State women's basketball team built a 19 point lead in the first half and withstood a Vermont run in the second half in a 74-67 victory on Saturday at the Lehigh Christmas City Classic.
Latisha Walker had 20 points and 13 rebounds, and Karen Flagg recorded 12 points and 11 rebounds as two of four Penguins in double figures.
The Penguins led 39-20 with a minute left before halftime, but Vermont went on a 17-2 run extending into the second half to get within four points at 41-37 at the 14:57 mark. Heidi Schlegel stopped the run with a bucket, and Liz Hornberger hit a big 3-pointer two possessions later to put Youngstown State up by seven.
A Schlegel basket got the lead back to double digits at 54-44 with 11:21, and YSU led by at least seven for the next six minutes. Kaylea Britton scored two of her 18 points to get Vermont within 62-56, but Walker capped a mini, yet significant, 5-0 run that put YSU back on top by 11 with 3:55 remaining. That was Youngstown State's last field goal of the contest, and the Catamounts scored seven straight points to cut the deficit to 67-63 with a minute left.
Flagg made both attempts of her one-and-one chance to push the lead to six, and Jenna Hirsch stole the inbounds pass to allow the Penguins to keep possession. Hornberger made both of her free-throw attempts to push the lead to eight, and YSU led by at least five the rest of the way.
The Penguins held the Catamounts to 26.3 percent shooting in the first half and forced 10 turnovers, but Vermont shot 40.9 percent and had just four turnovers in the second half as it made its run. Youngstown State shot 45.2 percent in the first half and 44 percent in the second half, but the Penguins were hurt by 12 turnovers in the final 20 minutes.
Hornberger hit 3-pointers on back-to-back possessions to key a 10-4 start for the Penguins, and YSU scored nine straight points shortly after to go up 22-10 on a Flagg bucket at the 9:23 mark. Youngstown State later scored eight consecutive points during a five-minute Vermont scoreless period to take a 35-17 lead with 2:16 remaining. The Penguins' largest lead of the half came at 39-20 when Walker scored on back-to-back possessions.
Hornberger finished with 16 points in a bounce-back effort from Friday's scoreless game, and Monica Touvelle had 11 points off the bench. Hirsch added seven assists and three steals to her six points, and Flagg contributed four blocks.
Indiana 107, Cleveland State 73
Despite a career-high effort from junior Cori Coleman, the Cleveland State women's basketball team fell to undefeated Indiana Saturday, 107-73. The Vikings now stand at 5-6 on the season, while the Hoosiers improve to 12-0.
Coleman led the Vikings with a career-high 24 points – including a career-high tying five three-pointers – while Imani Gordon added 18 points and Khayla Livingston tallied a career-best 10.Livingston also added four assists and a steal, while Gordon also notched six rebounds, three steals and two assists.
The Vikings were able to keep the contest close during the first part of the opening stanza – even earning a 7-7 tie following Coleman's 100th three-pointer of her career at the 15:36 mark. The Hoosiers responded with an 11-0 run though, gaining a double-digit lead (18-7) with 12:15 remaining in the first half. Over the next 2:37 the Vikings were able to chip away at the lead and come within seven points (22-15) at the 9:55 mark after an 8-4 run that included an Allison Mitchell three-pointer.
The Hoosiers once again extended their lead over the next few possessions though, gaining a double-digit advantage that they would hold for the remainder of the game. After going into the halftime break trailing, 46-26, the Vikings opened the second frame with a 5-2 scoring run – getting baskets from Gordon and Haley Schmitt. This run put the score at 48-31 Indiana, but the Hoosiers responded with an 11-0 run of their own, gaining control of the contest, and cruising to the 107-73 victory.
For the game, CSU shot 42-percent from the floor (25-59), while Indiana posted a .587 clip from the field (37-63). On Cleveland State's 25 made-field goals, the Vikings notched 17 assists – led by Livingston with four.
IPFW 84, Detroit 73
Senior Senee Shearer posted her seventh-straight game with 20 or more points to tie a school record, and despite a game-high 23 points, the visiting IPFW Mastodons (7-6) came out with an 84-73 victory on Dick Vitale Court at Calihan Hall Saturday afternoon over the Detroit Titans.
IPFW finished with 12 three-pointers and hit 12-29 attempts (42%) from downtown.
Shearer and senior Megan Hatter each finished with four three-pointers as Hatter tallied 18 points and five rebounds.
Shearer started the game with the 175th three of her career and then followed that with a four-point play at the 16-minute mark of the first half for seven of the team's nine early points as Detroit (3-9) led 9-5.
A 13-2 IPFW run over the next 3:16 gave the Mastodons an 18-11 advantage with 12:43 left in the opening frame, a lead that the visitors would held the rest of the way.
Freshman Megan Galloway hit a free throw and sophomore Tayelor McCalister followed that with a jumper to cut it to 18-14, but IPFW countered with a pair of three-pointers to take a 24-14 lead with just under eight minutes left in the opening half.
Crosby's first points came next to make it a 24-16 game and Galloway followed with two free throws. The teams traded baskets up until the end of the first half as Hatter netted a layup and added two free throws, while sophomore DaVonna Bradford finished off the first half of scoring for the Titans, but IPFW was still up by 12, 36-24, at the break.
Detroit shot 20% (7-35) overall in the opening frame compared to 36% (13-36) for IPFW and the Mastodons made seven threes.
The Titans came out of the break firing as Hatter nailed a 3-pointer nine seconds in the half, but a 7-0 IPFW run put the visitors up 41-27.
Detroit started a rally of seven-straight points as Crosby hit a lay-up and Shearer netted another three ball. On the ensuing possession, Shearer was fouled and made both free throws to get UDM within seven, 41-34.
The Mastodons answered again by hitting another three followed by a basket before the Titans closed to within five on the strength of a 14-5 run over a span of 4:44, making it a 46-41 contest and 14:25 left in regulation. Crosby started the run with a layup and Shearer had five-straight points, including another three from downtown. McCalister also hit a jumper and Crosby finished off the Titan scoring with the last five points.
IPFW, though, had one final spurt to seal the game as the Mastodons scored 14-straight points to take a 60-41 advantage. The teams would trade baskets over the next four minutes and IPFW was still up 71-51 with 7:11 left to play.
Over the final seven minutes, the Titans outscored IPFW 22-13 but the Mastodons held on for the victory.
Bradford and Galloway finished with five points and five rebounds apiece, while McCalister totaled six points, four rebounds, two assists and two steals.
The Titans did forced 21 IPFW turnovers, but the Mastodons shot just under 50% from the field connecting on 30-of-61, including 12 treys.
