Dec. 30, 2007
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CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Illinois won its fourth straight game Sunday night with a 64-54 victory over Wisconsin at Assembly Hall. Despite limited minutes due to foul trouble, Jenna Smith led a balanced Illini attack with 16 points, and junior Chelsea Gordon led an Illini defense that limited Badgers star Jolene Anderson to just 10 points on 4-of-20 shooting. Illinois is now 10-3 overall and is 2-0 to open Big Ten play for the first time since 2002-03, the last time the Illini made the NCAA tournament.
Illinois never trailed in the game and led comfortably most of the way. After trailing by eight at the half, the Badgers could get no closer than six the rest of the way as the Illini thwarted any momentum the guests could muster up. Wisconsin closed to within six at the 12:51 mark and then trailed by just seven with 9:04 left to play, but the Illini would pull away from that point on after back-to-back buckets by sophomore Lacey Simpson and a three-point play by Smith ballooned the lead to 14 with under five minutes to play. The Illini would cruise from that point on to top the Badgers for the second straight time.
The Orange and Blue improved to 15-11 in conference home openers, and have won 10 of the last 12.
Gordon shot 6-of-13 from the field for 13 points, but her primary assignment was to keep Anderson, the preseason Big Ten Player of the Year, at bay. She did just that, limiting the conference's second leading scorer to 4-of-20 from the field and 1-of-7 from behind the arc with the help of her teammates. Gordon had a career-high three blocked shots to help lock-down Anderson.
As a team, the Fighting Illini held Wisconsin (7-5, 0-2) to 32 percent shooting and blocked a season-high nine Badger shots while shooting 41 percent from the field themselves. As they have been all season, the Illini were stellar from the line, hitting 17-of-20 for the game (85 percent).
Smith, the reigning conference play of the week, sat out 14 minutes in the first half after picking-up her second foul, but still finished with a game-high 16 points thanks to 8-of-8 shooting from the free throw line. Simpson (10 points) and junior Lori Bjork (10 points) were also in double figures for the Orange and Blue, while five Illini tied for the team-high in rebounding with five (Simpson, Smith, Bjork and senior Audrey Tabon).
Illinois jumped out to an early 14-7 lead at the 13:50 mark thanks to two long-range bombs by Bjork. But things took a bad turn in the next minute when Smith and Simpson each picked up their second fouls and went to the bench for the rest of the half. However, seniors Tabon (14 minutes) and Rebecca Harris (13 minutes) both stepped up and played big minutes in the first half, helping the Illini stretch the lead to 14 at one point.
The Orange and Blue took a 33-25 lead into halftime thanks to stellar defense that held the Badgers to 26 percent shooting and Anderson to just five first-half points on 2-of-10 shooting.
The Fighting Illini will hit the road for a couple of tough Big Ten games after ringing in the new year. They will travel to Penn State to tangle with the Nittany Lions on Jan. 2 at 7 p.m. ET/6 CT and then will head to Bloomington, Ind. to face the Hoosiers on Jan. 6 at 2 p.m. ET/1 CT.
