Jan. 9, 2001

Box Score

EVANSTON, Ill.--The Illini won their second straight Big Ten contest 88-65 over Northwestern tonight at Welsh-Ryan Arena in Evanston. Illinois' record improves to 7-8 on the year, 2-1 in the conference.

Anne O'Neil came out strong to lead the Illini with 17 points. The Illinois offensive attack was balanced though as Dawn Vana added 16 and Aminata Yanni scored a career-high 15 for the Illini. All 11 members of the Illinois squad who played in the contest scored. Overall the Illini shot 44.6 percent from the floor (33-74) compared to just 38.2 percent for the Wildcats. The Illinois squad also accumulated 21 assists and 14 steals in the winning effort.

Illinois jumped on top early, scoring the first basket of the game. Northwestern answered with a three-pointer and extended its advantage to a 5-2 lead. The game remained close until the Illini took the lead for good on a basket by O'Neil with 10:37 remaining in the first. It was all Illinois from there as the Illini jumped out to a 47-33 halftime advantage. The 47 points by the Illini in the opening period was the most they have scored in the first half of a game this season. Vana scored 12 of her 16 points in the first period.

The Illinois lead continued to grow as the Illini lead by as many as 29 (85-56) with 2:02 remaining. O'Neil scored 11 points in the final period to lead the Illini to victory. She also grabbed a career-high eight rebounds, five off of the offensive boards, to pace the Illinois attack during the contest.

Tami Sears led Northwestern with 16 points behind 6-10 shooting from the floor. As a team the Wildcats went 7-15 from 3-point range.

Illinois' has one win down in a three-game, six-day Big Ten road tour that takes them to Ohio State on Thursday and Michigan State on Sunday.