Jan. 2, 2000

Box Score

Postgame Audio
? Coach Grentz, Forward S. Blauser,
???Guards A. Curtin & K. Faulkner
? Georgia Guard Kelly Miller

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Illinois looked like a Final Four contender Sunday afternoon in Champaign. The Illini used crisp passing, pressing defense and hot shooting to defeat No. 5 Georgia, 82-65 before 6,651 fans in Champaign.

The Illini bolted to a 45-27 lead at the half. Georgia never got as close as 16 points in the second half, while the Illinois lead reached 22 points three times.

Without the services of Melissa Parker and Dawn Vana due to injury, the five starters played at least 30 minutes each. Kristi Faulkner (19 minutes) and Holly Wilson (five minutes) gave some rest to the regulars, but Head Coach Theresa Grentz gives credit to conditioning, both in the summer and throughout the non-conference season as the reason for those five being able to play nearly the game?s duration.

Illinois was sharp on virtually every part of its game. Forward Susan Blauser notched her eighth double-double of her Illini career and second in the last two weeks with game 24 points and 12 rebounds. Sophomore Allison Curtin sliced and diced through the Georgia defense en route to what has become routine numbers -- 17 points and 8 rebounds. The versatile Curtin was 4 for 4 from three-point range Thursday in the Big Ten opener at Ohio State.

Shavonna Hunter, who is all of a sudden chasing Curtin?s freshman steals record, had four steals Sunday, giving her 24 steals combined in her last four games. Hunter has also taken over the role of point guard for the club.

Senior Tauja Catchings, likewise, had just another day at the offense ? 15 points, 6 rebounds, 2 assists.

Grentz had some sage advice for her young guard Kristi Faulkner before the game. "I told her not to think and just play, and think she did that pretty well," the wise coach said.

Faulkner complimented the dashing Curtin, the skying Catchings, and aggressive Blauser by hitting all three of her three-point attempts and all four of her field goal attempts for 12 points to go along with three assists.

"It makes my job a lot easier when Kristi Faulkner is hitting those three," Blauser said afterward.

Defensively, Illinois forced over 20 turnovers (21 to be exact) for the 14th time in 15 games and out-rebounded a physical Georgia team 41-28, including 17-9 from the offensive end.

With the small numbers, the Illini have found themselves in foul trouble at times this season. Sunday the shoe was on the other foot. Georgia post player Tawana McDonald saw just 18 minutes of action because of the foul situation. McDonald picked up her second foul just 1:45 into the game. Illinois took advantage. While Georgia made just 3 of its first 19 shots, mostly from the perimeter, Illinois went on a 22-8 run to go ahead 33-15 with 6:10 to play in the first half. Faulkner had all three of her triples during that stretch, including a pair on successive possessions. Blauser scored nine points in the final six minutes to go into halftime with 13 points. Illinois shot 56 percent from the floor in the first half.

Kelly (19 points) and Coco (14) Miller tried to keep the Bulldogs close in the second half, but Illinois failed to lose the momentum in capping off the win over the highest ranked team (5th) in the Grentz era.

Illinois is now 22-5 in the last four years in January and 26-9 overall under Theresa Grentz in the month. The Illini meet Wisconsin in Madison Tuesday at 7 p.m. (TV-Fox Sports Chicago).