Jan. 7, 2007
Complete Results
Champaign, Ill. - Illinois nearly came back from a 16 point second half deficit against Indiana Sunday afternoon at Assembly Hall, but in the end the valiant effort fell short as the Hoosiers snapped the Illini's eight-game home winning streak with a 71-64 victory. Lori Bork and Rebecca Harris each scored 14 points to lead the Orange and Blue, who fall to 12-4 overall and 2-2 in the Big Ten.
With the Hoosiers leading 53-37, Bjork got the comeback started with a four-point play at the 9:23 mark that got the season-high crowd of 3,102 fired up. The teams then traded buckets for the next few minutes and IU still held a 63-52 lead with just over five minutes to play. From there, the Illini went on a 10-0 run that cut the lead to just one, 63-62, with 1:40 to play. The run started and was finished by a pair of free throws by Jenna Smith, and in between were two lay-ups by Danyel Crutcher and an athletic driving hoop from Harris.
Indiana (13-4, 2-2) broke a four and a half minute scoring drought when Sarah McKay hit a lay-up to put IU back up by three with 1:24 remaining. Then on the ensuing Illinois possession, Bjork had a good look at a three from the right corner that would have tied the game with a minute left, but it rattled in-and-out and the Hoosiers pulled away from there.
After a see-saw first half in which neither team led by more than five, the Hoosiers broke open the 27-27 halftime knot by outscoring the Illini 26-10 in the opening 10 minutes of the second half. IU's Kim Roberson, who scored 14 points in the first half, had 10 during the second half IU run and ended with a career-high 28 points. Roberson, who hit 11-of-17 from the field, entered the game averaging just 6.6 points per game and had a previous career-high of 17 points.
Illinois shot 42 percent from the field and narrowly edged the Hoosiers in the rebounding department, 36-35, marking the eighth straight game in with the Orange and Blue have out-rebounded their foe. Danyel Crutcher (13 points) and Jenna Smith (12 points) joined Bjork and Harris in double-figures, and Crutcher pulled down a team-high nine boards. Bjork hit 3-of-8 from behind the arc to continue her streak of draining at least two three-pointers in every game this season, and Harris' 14 points are a new Illinois high for the junior college transfer. Lacey Simpson had five steals for the Illini, but all were in the first half.
In addition to Roberson's heroics, IU's Sarah McKay poured in 17 points and Whitney Thomas pulled down a game-high 13 rebounds for the Hoosiers. Indiana shot 43 percent for the game and is the first team to shoot better than 40 percent against the Illini this season.
Illinois will have a mid-week bye before returning to the floor Sunday, Jan. 14 at Wisconsin. Illinois' next home game is on Thursday, Jan. 18, at 7 p.m. vs. the Minnesota Golden Gophers. That game will be televised live by Comcast SportsNet Chicago.
