Dec. 19, 2001

Box Score

Post-game comments from Coach Theresa Grentz, Tiffanie Guthrie and Shavonna Hunter - AUDIO

Illini Wrap - VIDEO | AUDIO
courtesy of WCIA-TV, Channel 3, Champaign

Champaign, Ill. - Illinois out-scored visiting Eastern Illinois, 48-18 in the second half and pulled away to an easy 91-49 victory over the Panthers at the Assembly Hall in Champaign on Wednesday.

The Illini trailed early in the game, as late as the 7:28 mark of the first half, but used pressure defense to pull away. Tiffanie Guthrie's basket put the Illini up for good at 27-26 and the home team never looked back. Guthrie had another solid night with nine points and six rebounds.

Illinois was simply dominant in the final 27 minutes of the game, out-scoring the Panthers, 68-23 to close the game. The Illini forced 35 EIU turnovers for the night, 23 on steals.

Five players scored in double figures for the first time this season, led by junior point guard Shavonna Hunter, who had an all-conference type performance with 15 points, eight assists and five steals. Those five steals give Hunter 174 for her career, closing in on third on the all-time Illinois steals list (201). The scoring itself couldn't be more balanced. Following Hunter was Marcauskaite with 14, Aminata Yanni with 14, Cindy Dallas with 13 and Dawn Vana with 11 points.

Yanni's 14 points as well as her 26 minutes were both season highs. Angelina Williams had seven points and a career-best 10 rebounds off the bench. Dallas had five steals for the second time in the past week with a career-best six steals. Illinois shot .486 from the field, increasing their overall season percentage to .463, the best in seven years under Theresa Grentz.

The Illini went on a 16-0 run to start the second half turning a 43-31 halftime edge to 59-31 just five minutes into the second half. Illinois forced eight turnovers during that stretch. The final basket in that stretch came on a three-point from Jer? Issenmann. The lead reached 62-36 on a free throw from Dawn Vana.

Coach Grentz was able utilize the bench, which has been very productive this season. Nine different players saw at least 16 minutes of action and ten different Illini reached the scoring column

Afterwards the coach said she hopes the team will learn to be stronger out of the gates, but continues to be encouraged with how the team responds in the second half. She also is pleased with the way the team is playing defensively.

The focus now turns to Missouri, a team the Illini handled 92-74 last year, one of the best performances of last season. On the line is Busch Braggin' Rights Trophy. Tip-time at the Savvis Center is 5 p.m. on Saturday.