Dec. 19, 2007
Box Score
COLUMBIA, Mo. - Illinois finished the non-conference portion of the schedule with an impressive 66-52 road victory over the Missouri Tigers on Wednesday at Mizzou Arena. Sophomore Jenna Smith had another monster game with 19 points and 16 rebounds, junior Lori Bjork hit 5-of-10 from downtown and sophomore Lacey Simpson had 14 points to help the Illini improve to 8-3 heading into Big Ten play next week.
The Orange and Blue led by two at the break, 28-26, and pulled away in the second half with a quick 11-2 run after the Tigers tied it up at 28-28 to open the half. Smith had nine of the 11 points in the run to give the Illini a 39-30 lead with 15:05 to play. From that point on, Mizzou would get no closer than six, as the Illini would put the game away with a 14-2 run that turned a 51-43 game into a 65-45 blowout with less than four minutes to play. Bjork capped the second run with back-to-back threes to seal the victory.
Illinois was coming off an 11-day lay-off since beating Chicago State 73-46 on Dec. 8. The team came out of the gates slowly, but turned it on in the second half, shooting 59 percent (13-of-22) and outscoring the Tigers 38-26.
"We were a little rusty in the first half after the long layoff, but I thought we played our type of basketball in the second half," said head coach Jolette Law. "We did a better job of pushing the ball, and our half court defense and execution was much better in the second half."
Smith hit 7-of-13 from the field for her 19 points, and six of her 16 rebounds were on the offensive end. It was the Bloomington, Minn., native's seventh double-double of the season. The Illini are 7-0 in those games.
"They tried to double Jenna in the first half, but we did a good job of spreading them out offensively so they had to go away from that," Law said. "In the second half, Jenna got some more one-on-one isolations and took advantage."
Bjork's big day from behind the arc broke her out of a 5-for-27 slump. She finished with 15 points on the night and now has 160 career threes, moving her to within eight of second place on the all-time three-point field goals list. Simpson had her usual solid all-around game, hitting 7-of-11 from the field for her 14 points while adding five rebounds, five assists and two steals.
The game was tight throughout the first half, with three ties and five lead changes in the first 20 minutes. Neither team led by more than five, and Illinois took the two-point advantage into the break.
For the game, the Illini shot 47 percent and dominated inside, out-rebounding the Tigers 36-25 and outscoring them 24-14 in the paint.
The Illini will have seven days off for the holidays before opening Big Ten play at Northwestern on Dec. 27 at 7 p.m. The Big Ten Network will televise the Illinois-NU game nationally.
"It's good to head into the conference season at 8-3," Law said. "I think we've learned from our losses and are ready to get focused for Big Ten play."
