Nov. 29, 2006
Box Score
St. Louis, Mo. - Illinois shot 57 percent from the field in an impressive 84-75 victory over Saint Louis University Wednesday night at the Bauman-Eberhardt Center in St. Louis. Lori Bjork again led the way with a game-high 25 points and has now scored 46 points in the last two games. Chelsea Gordon added a career-high 17 points for the Orange and Blue, who improved to 6-1 overall.
"Overall, from a defensive effort, I was very pleased," said head coach Theresa Grentz. "These road games are dangerous, but we were able to get a big lead and that helped us play looser. In the meat of the game, we did the things we needed to do to win the game."
The game was not as close as the final score would indicate as the hosts closed with a 15-3 run after Illinois led 81-60 with under four minutes to play. The Illini put the game out of reach by hitting 12 of their first 18 shots in the second half to open the 21-point advantage. For the game, Illinois was sizzling from the field, hitting 31-of-54 (.574) overall and 9-of-17 (.529) from behind the arc.
The game was tight for the first 12 minutes of the first half as Illinois held a slim 19-18 lead at the eight minute mark. Over the next few minutes the Illini gradually added to the lead until they blew the game open with a lightning quick 11-0 run that spanned only 1:07 late in the half. Bjork hit a three at the 3:51 mark to give the Illini a 34-26 advantage and only 67 seconds later Lacey Simpson hit a three to make the lead 42-26. Illinois took a 45-31 lead into the break and SLU would get no closer than 12 until the finals seconds.
Bjork knocked down 7-of-12 form the field and 4-of-7 from behind the arc for her 25 points, and also added six assists in 36 minutes. Gordon nearly had a perfect night, nailing 6-of-7 shots overall and 3-of-3 from three-point land for her career-high 17. Simpson had another big all-around game with 11 points, five rebounds, five steals and four assists, while Danyel Crutcher finished with eight points and nine rebounds to come up one basket and one rebound short of her second double-double of the season.
"To come into an old gym like this and get a road win, we'll take it," said Bjork of the victory. "They started collapsing in the post in the first half and we got some open looks and had the barrage of threes that stretched the lead in the first half."
Theresa Lisch scored 23 points to lead Saint Louis, which dropped to 5-3 on the season. The Illini, however, neutralized leading scorer Tyler McIlwraith, holding her to just nine points and 4-of-17 shooting.
The Illini remain on the road this weekend as they head to Oxford, Miss., to face Ole Miss this Saturday at 2 p.m. Illinois returns to Assembly Hall to host another SEC foe on Tuesday, Dec. 5, the Florida Gators.
