Feb. 27, 2003
Final Stats
Freshman Janelle Hughes hit an 8 foot jumper with 2.5 seconds remaining to lift the Illini to a 60-58 win over Northwestern Thursday night at Assembly Hall. The Illini were down by as many as 14 points in the first half, but rallied to improve to 17-9 overall and 9-6 in the Big Ten. The win keeps the Illini in a fifth place tie with Michigan State, who beat Iowa tonight to move to 9-6 as well. The top five teams in the regular season standings earn a bye in the first round of the Big Ten Tournament next week. Illinois holds the tiebreaker over the Spartans by virtue of their 75-65 win in East Lansing on Monday.
The Illini came out flat as Northwestern led for the entire first half. They opened up their largest led of the game at the 4:23 mark when Michelle Zylstra hit a 3-pointer to push the Wildcat lead to 35-21. The Illini, however, climbed back into the game before the break thanks to eight straight points by Tiffanie Guthrie. Guthrie started her run with an old-fashioned 3-point play, followed it up with a lay-up, and then knocked down a trey to get the score to 35-29 with 1:38 remaining. The two teams traded baskets in the final minute and the Wildcats took a 37-31 lead into halftime.
The Orange and Blue came of the break on fire, scoring the first eight points of the half to grab the lead, 39-37. Angelina Williams had the first six points of the Illinois run, and Cindy Dallas finished it off with a lay-up to give the Illini their first lead. Northwestern would regain control though, and led until the final seconds.
Illinois' defense was stifling down the stretch, forcing Northwestern to turn the ball over on each of their final four possessions. With the Wildcats up 58-56 and less two minutes to play, Illinois forced a shot clock violation. UI's Angelina Williams then hit a 15-foot jumper to tie the game at 58-58 with 1:12 to play. On Northwestern's next possession, the Illini forced Natalie Will to step out of bounds. After a Williams miss and a NU timeout with 9.8 seconds remaining, the Illini forced a bad pass as the Wildcats tried to inbound the ball.
All that set up Hughes for the game winner. The freshman guard took the inbound pass, drove to the right and hit an eight footer over Northwestern's 6-4 center Sarah Kwasinski. Williams then stole NU's inbounds pass to seal the victory.
Williams led the Illini with 22 points, 16 of which came in the second half. Guthrie was the only other Illini in double figures. She finished with 11 points. Cindy Dallas nearly notched her 23rd career double double. She finished with nine points and 10 rebounds. Hughes scored seven points on the night, but none were bigger than her final two. Before the game, the Illini honored senior Karen Hagberg and senior managers Megan Mitchell and DeAnna Williams.
The Illini overcame a cold shooting night as they hit only 35.5 percent (22-62) from the field and 19.0 percent (4-21) from behind the arc. The Illini turned the ball over, however, just six times to Northwestern's 19, which made up for the poor shooting effort.
Northwestern (8-18, 3-12) was paced by Natalie Will, who netted 14 points.
The Illini will now head to Bloomington, Indiana on Sunday to finish off the regular season against the Hoosiers. Game time is set for 1 p.m.
