Jan. 5, 2012
Box Score
Iowa City, Iowa -
Iowa made 33 three-pointers combined in its three games coming into Thursday's game with Illinois in Iowa City. The Illini concentrated on that and held the Hawkeyes without a trey in their first 12 attempts from beyond the arc covering the first 39:49 of the game..
However, with Illinois leading 55-52, Iowa senior Kamille Wahlin hit a three from the corner with 10.9 seconds left to tie the game. The Illini got a good look at the basket with senior Lydia McCully coming up just short on a 12-foot base line shot at the end of regulation. Super sophomore Jamie Printy hit a three just over a minute into overtime as the Hawkeyes pulled away for a 69-62 victory in front of 3,815 fans.
"I think my kids played hard, but played another 39-minute game," Illinois head coach Jolette Law said afterward. "We need to focus and finish games. I give Iowa a lot of credit. They didn't stop. They didn't back up, but kept attacking. They got it to overtime and capitalized on getting to the free-throw line."
Offensively, Illinois got 20 points and nine rebounds from preseason All-Big Ten selection Karisma Penn, pacing three Illini in double figures. McCully added 11 points and three assists and sophomore Kersten Magrum 10 points and five boards.
Illinois led for most of the game. The Hawkeyes last lead until overtime came at the 3:49 mark of the first half (27-25). From there, the Illini scored the last six points of the first half en route to a 31-27 at the intermission. McCully, who sank a three-pointer to give Illinois a 25-23 lead, hit a mid-range jumper and Magrum converted a pair of free throws at the end of the half.
In addition to defending the perimeter, Illinois got Iowa's top insider player, Morgan Johnson, into early foul trouble and committed just six turnovers in the first 20 minutes.
While the lead changed hands nine times in the first, the Illini never trailed in the second half. Every time Iowa closed the gap, a different Illinois player stepped up to stem the tide. McCully fed Penn for lay-in to make it 46-44 Illini with 8:20 to play. Adrienne GodBold had a steal and a lay-up to push the lead to 51-47 with six minutes to play and hit a base-line shot to give her team its last lead at 55-52 with 2:10 to play.
Besides its long-range shooting, the Hawkeyes (10-6, 2-1 Big Ten) came into the game as the top free-throw shooting team in the nation at just over 82 percent. After holding Iowa to just two free-throw attempts in the first half, the Hawkeyes lived at the line in the last 25 minutes of the game, making 15-18 from the stripe in the second half and 9-12 from there in the overtime. The Illini, who had just 15 turnovers for the game, made some untimely ones down the stretch and was just 3 of 8 on free throws for the second half and overtime. Thus Iowa was able to force the extra session despite shooting just 22.2 percent from the field in the second half.
"We were dictating on defense, forcing them to put the ball on the floor," Law said. "We knew they are excellent shooting team. We knew their bread and butter was shooting the three. We wanted to make them do something else, forcing them to put the ball on the floor. We followed the game plan up until the last 22.7 seconds."
On the final Iowa possession of the second half, Printy drove right and kicked to Wahlin for the successful three attempt.
"Wahlin is a senior and seniors come to play and refuse to lose," Law said.
Illinois was held scoreless for the last two minutes of regulation and the first two minutes of overtime as Iowa scored 10 straight points and the Illini never led in overtime.
For Illinois (6-10, 0-3), it comes just three days after falling to Purdue, 64-63 on a last-second three. The Illini get their next chance to push over the top and into the win column Sunday afternoon against Wisconsin (2 pm).
