Feb. 12, 2006

Box Score

University Park, Pa. - Illinois scored the first basket of the game, but Penn State's Adrienne Squire scored 28 points on 9-of-11 field goals to lead the Nittany Lions to a 78-52 win in front of 7,975 fans at the Bryce Jordan Center. It was the Illini's eighth straight loss, the longest skid since an 11-game streak in 1987-88, and sixth straight at Penn State. Danyel Crutcher had a team-high 18 points for Illinois and Audrey Tabon chipped in 11, but the Illini got only 10 points from its four guards.

After Crutcher opened the game with a jumper, the teams played back-and-forth basketball until Penn State used an 8-2 spurt over 2:16 of the first half to take a 26-16 lead. Illinois was unable to take much off that margin, trailing 30-21 at halftime.

Still leading by a nine-point margin nearly three minutes into the half, PSU utilized another 8-2 run to stretch its lead to 15, then four minutes later a 10-0 spurt put the Illini away, pushing the Lion margin to 59-36 with 8:30 remaining. In that 10-0 run, Squire hit a pair of three-pointers and Illinois missed three consecutive shots. After Tabon snapped the run with a lay-up, Illinois finally got its first point from a guard when Janelle Hughes hit a free throw with 7:09 left in the game.

"They did a good job of moving her around against our zone," Illinois coach Theresa Grentz said of Squire. "You've got to give her a lot of credit. She got the shots and she hit them."

For the game, Squire hit 7-of-9 three-pointers, tying the single-game record by an Illini opponent, set by Lindsey Lieser of Minnesota on Jan. 28, 2001. Aside from those two missed three-pointers, Squire was otherwise perfect, hitting both of her two-point attempts and going 3-for-3 from the free throw line.

Crutcher led Illinois with 19 points and nine rebounds on 9-of-16 shooting and Tabon added 12 points and six boards off the bench. Erin Wigley chipped in 10 points, including 6-of-6 from the charity stripe. Despite the Illini's frontcourt scoring, Penn State dominated Illinois in the paint, 38-16, and scored 25 points off turnovers to the Illini's nine. The Lions also held a 16-0 margin in fast-break points.

Up Next: Illinois travels to Northwestern on Thursday to try to capture its first series sweep of the 2005-06 campaign, having beaten the Wildcats 64-55 in Champaign. The game tips at 7 p.m.