Nov. 15, 1999
? Box Score
? Postgame Audio:
??Coach Theresa Grentz,
??forwards Tauja Catchings
??and Kylie Martin,
??guard Allison Curtin
Champaign, Ill. - Tauja Catchings scored 32 points and pulled down 11 rebounds to lead 12th-ranked Illinois to a 112-73 victory over Western Michigan in the First Round of the Pre-Season WNIT at Huff Hall in Champaign.
Illinois put on a dominating performance, jumping to early leads of 10-2, 20-6, 28-10 and 40-16 before leading 59-35 at the break. Catchings entered the game needing 20 points to reach the 1,000 mark and Catchings got that much in the first half.
Illinois? 112 points were one shy of the team record of 113 set on Dec. 8, 1981 against Ball State and the 39-point margin of victory was the most ever in a season opener. The Illini shot .700 from the field in the first half (21 of 30) and .603 for the game. That marked the first time that the Illini shot over 60 percent for a game since Dec. 19, 1998 in a 97-77 win over Florida.
Six of the nine players who got in the game reached double figures. Outside of Catchings? wild night, the rest of the scoring was pretty balanced. Senior Kylie Martin began her senior season in impressive fashion with 15 points. Sophomore Allison Curtin also added 15 followed by 14 from senior Susan Blauser, 11 from freshman Karen Hagberg, and 10 from freshman Kristi Faulkner. Shavonna
Hunter (9) and Melissa Parker (6) rounded out the scoring for Illinois.
The Illini out-rebounded Western Michigan 44-25. WMU freshman Kristin Koetsier had a tremendous beginning to her career with 29 points on 7 of 11 shooting.
Illinois next meets Oklahoma State Wednesday night at Assembly Hall. Tip-off is 7:00 p.m. Other first round WNIT scores were Boston College 83, Maine 56, Duke 72, UNC-Greensboro, 47, Georgia 76, UAB, 75, TCU 62, St. Mary?s 51, Oklahoma State 73, Northern Iowa 55, and Virginia Tech 60, Liberty 45. The UC-Santa Barbara-UNLV game was not completed at press time.
