Dec. 11, 2002

Box Score

"There's no such thing as a bad win," said Illinois Head Coach Theresa Grentz after her team's 65-57 victory over Eastern Michigan Wednesday night at the Assembly Hall. The Illini battled from behind much of the first half, but took charge in the second half and pulled away to move to 6-1 on the year, a mark that only three other Illinois teams have reached.

Cindy Dallas garnered her second double double of the season and 14th of her career with 15 points and 13 rebounds, while teammate Tiffanie Guthrie picked up her first ever double double with 12 points and 10 rebounds. This coming after notching 30 points against Arizona on Sunday.

The win didn't come easy for the Illini (12th in latest RPI rankings) against Eastern Michigan (2-5). EMU led 6-0 out of the gates and 20-12 at the 11:12 mark of the first half. The Illini went on an 11-2 run to take a 23-22 lead. The Illinois lead reached 30-25, but Eastern Michigan scored 9 of the last 11 points of the half to take a 34-32 advantage into halftime.

It wasn't the best of shooting nights for Illinois. The Illini struggled from the field (37.7 percent), the three-point arc (5 of 24, 20.8 percent) and the line (14 of 26, 53.8 percent), Illinois, however, had its best rebounding game of the season, with a 47-36 advantage over the Eagles on the boards.

Illinois took charge of the game early in the second half, bolting to a 49-40 lead with 12:37 to play. The lead hovered around ten points the rest of the way before Illinois won by eight. Illinois was solid defensively in the second half, holding Eastern Michigan to just 23 points in the second half, while forcing 11 second-half turnovers. Illinois was one off the school record for blocked shots with eight as a team, led by three from Guthrie, two apiece from Dallas and Angelina Williams and one from Karen Hagberg. Eastern Michigan shot just 31 percent and was 0 of 6 from the three-point range in the second half after shooting 48 percent from the field in the first half.

Nikki Knapp led the way for Eastern Michigan with 16 points. Ryan Coleman added 14 points and a team-high 10 rebounds for the Eagles.

Williams and Aminata Yanni were also in double figures for Illinois with 10 points apiece.

Illinois is next in action on Saturday, Dec. 14 when it takes on Mississippi State at the United Center in Chicago. Game-time is set for 1:30 p.m. following the men's match-up vs. Temple at 11 a.m.