Jan. 7, 2001

Champaign, Ill. - The young Illinois women's basketball team took another major step forward Sunday. In front of a vocal crowd of 4,845 at Assembly Hall, the Illini upended ninth-ranked Penn State, 75-71.

The win improves Illinois' record to 1-1 in the Big Ten and 6-8 overall. Half of the Illini's wins have come against ranked opponents. Earlier Illinois dumped now #18 Clemson, 80-62, in the season opener and then took care of then #14 Auburn, 73-56, on the road last week.

Penn State and Illinois have met in the Big Ten Tournament three times in the last four seasons and the games have always been intense. Although Penn State (11-4, 3-1) constantly made runs, the Illinois win was from wire-to-wire. Illinois jumped to an early 13-6 lead and never trailed in the game. Allison Curtin scored seven of her game-high 23 points and assisted on another basket in the rally.

Curtin achieved a double double for the third straight game, amassing ten rebounds to go along with those 23 points. She now has 400 rebounds for her career, just the sixth Illinois player with 1,000 points, 400 rebounds and 200 assists.

The lead reached 20-10 on a jumper by freshman Anne O'Neil, and 26-10 on a short shot by Dawn Vana (11 points). Penn State closed to within 32-25 after five straight points from Lisa Shepherd (14 points, 6 rebounds), but the Illini closed the half with back-to-back lay-ups off the fast break to make it 43-30 at the break.

The lead hovered around the 10-point mark most of the second half. The Illini's Shavonna Hunter (14 point) hit a big three for the Illini to halt a Penn State surge. Hunter's lay-up off the fast break made it 70-60 with 1:45 to play. Penn State tried to rally late. Ashley Luke canned a three to cut the lead and Maren Walseth (20 points, 7 rebounds) put in two lay-ups, but Curtin sunk two free throws to help the Illini maintain the edge.

Illinois won the game by forcing 23 Penn State turnovers and finishing at the other end. The Illini also had 20 assists with four players (Curtin, Vana, O'Neil and Hunter) having four assists each. Hunter and Curtin also had five steals apiece.

Penn State's leading scorer, freshman Kelly Mazzante, scored 14 points, but Illinois limited her to just one three-pointer. In fact, Illinois held the Big Ten's leading three-point shooting team to just .238 for the game (5 of 21) from the arc.

The win was big for Illinois, who plays three games on the road this week beginning Tuesday night at Northwestern.