Feb. 13, 2003
Final Stats
Illinois continues to play hard and take ranked teams down to the wire. For the sixth time in seven tries, the Illini, unfortunately, came up on the short end of the score in the end as UCSB edged Illinois, 77-72 at Assembly Hall on Thursday.
Illinois had to endure torrid shooting from the 17th ranked Gauchos, who shot 60.8 percent for the game (fourth best in school history), including a 64 percent clip (16 of 25) in the second half. Still the Illini managed to stay close, thanks in part to an aggressive rebounding effort, which translated to an impressive 17 offensive boards for the home team.
UCSB's 6-8 Lindsay Taylor paced the way with 22 points and eight rebounds. Taylor picked up her third foul with 5:43 left in the first half, but never picked up another the rest of the way. Guard Jess Hansen added 14 for Santa Barbara.
Cindy Dallas was relentless again on the boards with 10 rebounds to along with a team-leading 19 points. That marked her 10th double double of the season, which leads the Big Ten and moved her past Alicia Sheeler for seventh on Illinois' all-time rebounding list (686).
Aminata Yanni moved into ninth on Illinois' single-season three-point list with 39 treys on the year. Yanni made four three-pointers on the night and finished with 16 points. Angelina Williams and Tiffanie Guthrie added 12 points apiece.
"We continue to be right there against these ranked teams," noted Head Coach Theresa Grentz afterward. "I am looking for one player who will put this team on her back ."
Illinois didn't go away as Dallas pointed out in the post-game press conference. Trailing 10-3 and 25-11 early on, the Illini mounted a rally, out-scoring UCSB 23-6 in the next eight minutes to take its first lead at 34-31 on Yanni's three-point basket. The half was nip and tuck from there with Williams hitting a buzzer beater to tie the score at 42-42 at intermission.
Illinois led once in the second half at 53-51 on a steal and jumper from Guthrie, but Santa Barbara went on an 11-0 run to take the lead for good. Illinois got as close as five on two occasions, but missed five three-pointers in the final two minutes in an effort to chip away.
Illinois won the rebounding (33-31) and the turnover (15-13) battles, but shot just 40.6 percent from the field, 20 percentage points lower than Santa Barbara.
The road doesn't get any easier for either of these teams. Santa Barbara takes an 18-3 record into fourth-ranked LSU on Saturday, while the Illini (14-8) play at no. 9 Purdue on Sunday. The Illini-Boilermaker tip-off on ESPN2 is 1 p.m. CST.
