Jan. 20, 2002

Box Score

EVANSTON, Ill. -- The Fighting Illini women's basketball team improved to 12-5 overall and moved into a tie for second place in the Big Ten (5-2) with an 87-73 win over Northwestern today in Evanston. Sophomore Iveta Marcauskaite continued to impress recording her third double-double of the season with game-highs of 26 points and 12 rebounds.

Marcauskaite played another stellar game shooting 9-17 from the floor and 8-10 from the free-throw line to score 26 points, leading the six Illini in double figures. On 6-11 shooting, Shavonna Hunter scored 14 for the Illini. Cindy Dallas and Angelina Williams each added 12 while Dawn Vana scored 11 and Tiffanie Guthrie scored 10 for the Illini, who shot 54 percent from the floor in the contest (34-63).

The game was close for the majority of the first half before a Hunter steal was capped off by a Marcauskaite lay-up, putting the Illini up by 11 (43-32) with 1:23 remaining in the first period. Illinois took a five point advantage, 43-38, to the locker room at halftime.

Five minutes into the second half, Illinois went on a 15-0 that culminated in a Dallas layup that put the Illini up 66-49 with a little over nine minutes to play. Illinois never looked back from there, retaining a double-digit lead through the remainder of the contest before winning by an 87-73 margin.

"On Thursday, we had three players in double figures. Today we had six. When we get into that set, we're a hard team to guard," head coach Theresa Grentz said. "The key was when we went from zone press to a man-to-man press. Angelina Williams was able to come up with some big steals. That helped our confidence."

Guthrie led the Illini in steals with four and Williams swiped three for the Illini who grabbed 14 steals and recorded 30 points off of Northwestern turnovers. Illinois also scored 54 points in the paint.

The Illini visit Purdue on Thursday at 6 p.m.