Feb. 16, 2006

Box Score

Evanston, Ill. - Freshman Chelsea Gordon converted a three-point play with 2.6 seconds left to give Illinois a 60-59 win over Northwestern at Welsh-Ryan Arena. The Illini scored the last five points of the game and finished the game on a 16-6 run, including five points by Lori Bjork and four by Janelle Hughes, to snap an eight-game losing streak. Hughes led the Illini with 21 points, Bjork finished with 13 and Erin Wigley scored 12 to pace Illinois.

"We were supposed to run a play called `Diagonal Shooter,' but it broke down, Lori (Bjork) drove and I crashed the boards," said Gordon, who earned her first career-start Thursday night. "It came my way and I put it back up."

Following a timeout with 13.2 seconds left, Bjork drove baseline but missed a running lay-up, only to have Gordon grab the offensive board and score while drawing a foul, tying the game at 59 with 2.6 seconds left. After a Northwestern timeout, Gordon's free throw bounced around the rim and fell in, and Okonkwo's halfcourt heave was off the mark as Illinois snuck out of Welsh-Ryan Arena with a 60-59 win.

"There were a lot of emotions going through my head during the timeout," Gordon said. "My teammates calmed me down and gave me the confidence I needed to hit the free throw."

After starting slowly, the Illini picked up the pace with a 14-7 run over six minutes of the first half to take a 23-14 lead with 5:40 remaining. Over an eight-minute stretch from the 16-minute mark to the eight-minute mark, Illinois made 7-of-12 from the field and grabbed 10 of the 12 rebounds to stretch its lead from two points to nine. But the Wildcats clawed back, using a 12-4 run to cut Illinois' lead to 27-26 at halftime. Following tough outings from the field the past two games, Wigley and Hughes combined to score 19 points on 9-for-17 shooting in the first half.

The Illini extended their lead to eight points while holding the Wildcats scoreless for the first 5:25 of the second half. But Northwestern fought back with a 9-0 spurt to take the lead for the first time since the 19:29 mark of the first half, 35-34. After the teams traded buckets, the Wildcats used another run, this time 11-2 over 2:20, to grab a 53-44 lead with 6:08 remaining.

But Illinois fired back with an 11-0 run of its own, capped by a pair of buckets by Hughes, to take a 55-53 lead with 3:05 remaining. Northwestern scored the next six points to take a four-point lead with 1:00 left, but Lori Bjork nailed a pair of free throws to cut the deficit to two. The Wildcats then narrowly avoided a shot clock violation as Sara Stutz threw up an off-balance heave from the top of the key and Ifeoma Okonkwo grabbed the offensive rebound, but her put-back was off target and Hughes cleared it for the Illini and called timeout to set-up the final play.

Hughes' 21 points came on 9-of-17 shooting and she played 35 minutes after coming off the bench 2:45 into the first half. Bjork was only 4-for-10 from the field, but hit 3-of-5 three-pointers and both of her free throw attempts. As a team, the Illini shot 38.3 percent (23-60) for the game, 40.0 percent (6-15) from behind the arc and 88.9 percent from the line (8-9).

Up Next: The Illini have a rare weekend off before hosting Iowa on Senior Night on Feb. 23 at 7 p.m.