March 24, 2008
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CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Illinois picked up win number 20 on the season with a down-to-the-wire 48-44 victory over Drake on Monday night in second round WNIT action in front of 1,728 fans at Assembly Hall. Sophomore Lacey Simpson led the Illini on both ends of the floor, scoring a game-high 14 points and sparking a defensive effort that held the Bulldogs to their lowest point total of the season. Illinois (20-14) will now hit the road to face Marquette (17-14) in third round action Wednesday night at 7 p.m. at the Al McGuire Center in Milwaukee.
The Illini led the entire second half, but the Bulldogs pulled to within one, 45-44, after a Lindsay Whorton jumper with 43 seconds left. However, Drake would not get the ball back until the game was out of reach with four seconds left. After running some time off the clock, Illini junior Lori Bjork missed a three that would have sealed it, but Drake tipped the rebound out of bounds with 21 ticks left.
The Bulldogs had committed just one second-half foul up to that point so they needed to foul the Illini six times, taking the clock from 21 seconds to six, before finally sending the hosts to the line. Bjork made the front end of a one-and-one, to make the score 46-44, and missed the second, but Simpson got the rebound and was fouled with four seconds left. She calmly knocked down both to secure the win and extend the season for the Orange and Blue.
The win gave Illinois its first 20-win season since 1999-2000 and improved the Illini's overall postseason WNIT record to 5-5.
Illini All-America candidate Jenna Smith battled double and triple teams from the packed-in Drake zone all night and struggled from the field (4-of-12), but nearly had her 17th double-double of the season anyway, finishing with 10 points and nine rebounds. Smith also had two blocks on the night and now has 58 on the season, making her the Illinois single-season blocked shots record holder, surpassing Kendra Gantt's 25 year-old record of 57.
Simpson had eight rebounds, three steals and two blocks to go along with her game-high point total, and junior Chelsea Gordon was also in double figures (10 points) in the balanced Illini attack. Senior Rebecca Harris had eight points and three steals and Bjork, a Des Moines, Iowa, native, added six points and two blocks to the Illini cause.
In the first half, Illinois didn't show any rust from its 15-day lay-off, jumping out to an 8-0 lead in the opening five minutes. Drake roared back with a 10-0 run of its own and the rest of the first half was nip and tuck until the Illini extended the lead to six on a Smith jumper just before the halftime buzzer. Illinois extended the lead to as many as 10 in the second half, 37-27, at the 13:26 mark after a lay-up by Harris, but the Bulldogs chipped away and remained in it until the end.
Illinois shot 43 percent for the game, but hit just 1-of-14 from three-point land (7.1 percent). The Orange and Blue defense was stout though; holding the Bulldogs to 35 percent shooting while racking up seven blocks and seven steals. The Illini also held a 35-28 edge on the boards.
Of the big storylines in the game was the lack of fouls committed by both teams. The Illini entered the game ranked fourth in the nation in fewest fouls committed per game (13.2) and had just five whistled against them tonight, leading to only two Drake free throws. The Bulldogs, meanwhile, had just two fouls called against them until they were forced to foul the Illini seven straight times in the final 21 seconds to send them to the line. The Illini hit 5-of-6 from the charity stripe in the game, with four of those attempts coming in the final six seconds.
Marquette defeated Creighton in overtime Monday night, 75-69, at home to set-up Wednesday's match-up. Illinois and Marquette met in Milwaukee in the second round of the 2006 WNIT, with the Golden Eagles prevailing 64-44.
