Jan. 2, 2004

Final Stats

Iowa City, Iowa - Angelina Williams scored a career-high 25 points for Illinois, but it was not enough Friday night to overcome the Iowa Hawkeyes, who defeated the Illini 91-73 in front of 3,149 fans in Iowa City. The game was the Big Ten opener for both teams.

Iowa post players Jamie Cavey and Jennie Lillis scored 26 and 18 points, respectively, for the Hawkeyes, who scored 48 points in the paint. Able to get the ball down low, Iowa shot 55.2 percent from the field, including 58 percent in the first half.

Illinois falls to 5-6 on the season heading into Sunday's nationally televised game at Mississippi State. The contest with the Bulldogs is at 12:30 p.m. on CBS.

The game was at back-and-forth affair for the first ten minutes as Illinois led 28-25 following a made three-pointer from Aminata Yanni. The trey for Yanni was one of three in the half for the senior forward. The first ten minutes had five ties and six lead changes. Back-to-back baskets from Erin Wigley and Guthrie gave Illinois a 15-14 lead. After Iowa took a 20-18, Yanni responded with a three-pointer to give the Illini a 21-20 advantage. Iowa took a 25-21 lead before Illinois went on a 7-0 run.

That's when Iowa (7-5, 1-0) took control, outscoring Illinois 23-6 to take a 48-34 advantage with 1:21 left in the half. Illinois closed the half with baskets from Janelle Hughes and Angelina Williams, then scored the opening basket of the second half to pull to within 48-40.

Then Iowa's Tiffany Reedy canned a three and Kristi Faulkner found Lillis for the lay-up to extend the Iowa lead to 53-40. From there the inside play of Iowa took over. Yanni and Guthrie had 13 points apiece for Illinois. Guthrie made it four double-doubles on the year with a team-leading 10 rebounds.