March 2, 2003
Final Stats
The Fighting Illini closed out their regular season with a heart-breaking 85-82 overtime loss to Indiana on Sunday. The loss, coupled with Michigan State's win over Northwestern today, drops Illinois (17-10, 9-7) down to the sixth seed in next weekend's Big Ten Tournament. A win by the Illini today would have given them the fourth seed.
The Illini had several opportunities to get the win in both regulation and in overtime. Angelina Williams had a shot with less than 10 seconds remaining in regulation that would have put Illinois up, but it did not go down and the two teams went to OT tied at 72-72.
Neither team took control in overtime as the lead see-sawed back and forth. The Hoosiers took an 84-82 lead with 40 seconds remaining after an April Williams bucket, but the Illini had several shots to score in the final seconds. Angelina Williams missed a 3-pointer with 23 seconds to play, but Aminatia Yanni came up with a big offensive rebound and the Illini had another shot to win. However, attempts by Karen Hagberg and Williams in the final five seconds were both blocked by Hoosier defenders.
Williams led the way for the Orange and Blue, pouring in 23 points and dishing five assists. Cindy Dallas notched the 23rd double double of her career with 13 points and a career best-tying 17 rebounds. Aminata Yanni (13 points), Janelle Huges (13 points) and Jere Issenmenn (11 points) all reached double figures for the Illini as well.
Illinois came out of the gates hot and had a stellar first half. They led by as many as 15 points in the first frame and took a 45-35 lead into the break.
In the second half, the Hoosiers began to slowly chip away at the Illinois lead and finally took their first lead of the game, 60-59, with 8:18 left to play. The Illini would quickly take the lead back though, and led until the 1:15 mark when a pair of Angela Hawkins free throws brought the Hoosiers into the 72-72 tie.
Illinois shot 45.5% (30-66) for the game and 50% (8-16) from behind the arc, but turned the ball over a costly 22 times. Indiana (12-14, 5-11) knocked down 44.8% (30-67) of their shots from the field and attempted an amazing 37 free throws, making 20 of them (54.1%).
The Illini will now enter the Big Ten Tournament as the sixth seed and will face 11th seeded Michigan at 7 p.m. (CST) Thursday, March 6, in the opening round at Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Ind. The winner of that game will advance to face third-seeded Purdue in the quarterfinals on March 7 at 7:30 p.m.
