CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - The Fighting Illini dropped an overtime heartbreaker to Northwestern Sunday afternoon at Assembly Hall, seeing their 21-game winning streak over the Wildcats end in dramatic fashion. NU's Beth Marshall hit a three-pointer as time expired at the end of regulation to send the game to OT, where the `Cats held on for a 69-66 win.
Illinois (6-10, 1-2) had two chances to send the game into a second overtime, but redshirt freshman Amber Moore's three with seven seconds left rattled in and out and then junior Lana Rukavina had her game-tying three blocked by NU's Amy Jaeschke with two seconds left to seal the win for the Wildcats.
Several Illini came off the bench to have big games in defeat. Amber Moore hit 5-of-9 from behind the arc for a career-high 17 points, while sophomore Adrienne GodBold set or tied career-highs with 16 points, five steals and three blocks. Freshman Alexis Burke made 5-of-7 shots for 13 points, including a big three-point play late in regulation that gave Illinois a 59-55 lead. In all, the Illini bench outscored NU's bench 46-5.
Illini sophomore Karisma Penn had her string of six straight double-doubles snapped. Penn had an off shooting night (2-of-12) and finished with just eight points, but did find other ways to contribute as she pulled down a career-high 17 rebounds and also added three steals and three blocks before fouling out with 48.9 seconds left in overtime.
Northwestern (13-4, 2-2) entered the game as one of the top three-point shooting teams in the country at 38 percent, but the Illini held them in check for most of the night as the Wildcats made just 3-of-24 (12.5 percent) from behind the arc. Marshall's three at the end of regulation was the notable exception, however. After UI junior Lydia McCully made one of the two free throws to up Illinois up 60-57 with 6.0 second left, Marshall went coast-to-coast and pulled up from the left wing for the game-tying points.
"This one hurts," Illini coach Jolette Law said of the loss. "But we didn't lose this in the final seconds or in overtime. We need to play with a sense of urgency right from the tip so we're not in that position at the end of a game. The were some positives to this game, so we'll focus on those and get ready for Indiana on Thursday."
For the second game in a row, Illinois had to overcome sluggish starts to each half. In the first half, the Illini's first bucket didn't come until the 14:56 mark. Illinois used an 11-0 run later in the half to take a brief lead and trailed by only one at the break, 29-28.
At the start of the second half, the Illini went over six minutes without a field goal as Northwestern pulled out to a 37-29 lead. Illinois came charging back with another 11-0 run, capped by back-to-back threes by Moore, to take a 42-39. From there the game seesawed back and forth until the nail-biting finish.
Northwestern entered the game ranked in the top-20 in the nation in both FG percentage and 3FG percentage, but were held to just 32.5 percent overall (25-of-77) and 12.5 percent from behind the arc (3-of-24). Illinois, meanwhile, shot 37.1 percent overall (23-of-62) and 50 percent from downtown (9-of-18). The difference in the game was rebounding, where NU held a 51-41 advantage, including 23 offensive boards, as well as Illinois' 21 turnovers.
The game marked the first win by Northwestern over the Illini since Feb. 5, 1999. Jaeschke led the Wildcats with 30 points and five blocks.
The Illini will hit the road for a pair of Big Ten games next week. They'll head to Bloomington, Ind., to face the Hoosiers on Thursday night at 7 p.m. ET/6 CT and then will travel to Penn State next Sunday for a 4 p.m. ET/3 CT game that will be televised by ESPN2.
