Nov. 18, 2000

Champaign, Ill. - The Illinois freshmen didn't seemed fazed by playing in their first regular season collegiate game. Two of the four reached double figures in Illinois' impressive 80-62 win over Clemson in front of 3,954 fans at Assembly Hall.

Allison Curtin made two free throws in the first half to become the quickest Illinois player ever to 1,000 points and just the 15th in the 26-year history of the program. One game into her sixth season, Theresa Grentz, the all-time winningest coach in Illini history, reached win No. 100 for her career at Illinois.

The coach has been encouraged with the floor game of freshman Anne O'Neil. Sunday the native of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, scored 18 points and made all five of her free throws to lead all scorers in her Illinois debut.

Iveta Marcauskaite, the 6-4 forward from Lithuania, scored 11 points to go along with eight rebounds. Shavonna Hunter scored 13 points and sank all five of her free throws. As a team the Illini shot 46.0 percent from the field and 74.1 percent from the line. The aggressive Illinois team used its quickness to make double (20) the free throws that Clemson attempted (10).

"Every one has a role on this team," said Grentz. "When they accept their roles, we win and have a lot of fun in the process."

Even though the newcomers played a huge role in the win, a pair of juniors provided some spark. Counting the exhibition games, Cindy Dallas played in three straight games for the first time in three years after injuring her knee each of the past two. Dallas was tenacious on the boards with a team-best and career-high 12 rebounds. Junior Dawn Vana may have been the difference, however, off the bench. Vana scored 15 points on 6 of 6 shooting in 23 solid minutes of work. She had two assists and no turnovers.

As is typical of first games, neither team sprinted out of the gates. Clemson held a 5-0 early edge and the Illini didn't score until almost six minutes into the game. Once the Illini got going, however, the lead snowballed. Hunter gave the Illini the lead for good at 9-7 on a three-pointer, then O'Neil hit two quick buckets to make it 13-7.

The lead reached 21-11 at 6:02 when Marcauskaite finished a fast break set up by a Curtin steal. O'Neil took a baseball style pass from Vana and laid it in at the buzzer to make the score 36-26 at the half.

Illinois proceeded to score the first six points of the second half as the lead reached 16. Clemson started to hit shots however. A basket by Center Erin Batth (20 points) made the lead a precarious seven at 67-60 with just under four minutes to play. Vana put the exclamation point on the win with a three-point play and a lay-in as the Illini scored the final nine points of the game.

Chrissy Floyd was also in double figures for Clemson with 15 points. Thanks in large part to Dallas and Marcauskaite, Illinois dominated the boards 45-31.

Illinois and Clemson both head to Maui over Thanksgiving for the Maui Classic. Illinois meets Alcorn State, and Clemson battles Tennessee in the opening round of the tournament on Friday.