Oct. 13, 2007
Illini Madness Photo Gallery
Head Coach Jolette Law and the Fighting Illini women's basketball team had their first official practice this morning at the Ubben Basketball Complex. The first practice came about 12 hours after the Illini men's and women's teams kicked things off Friday night at Assembly Hall with Illini Madness.
At Madness, Coach Law introduced the team and junior Lori Bjork and senior Rebecca Harris combined with four men's player for a three-point shootout. Two teams of three players competed against each other, with two players from the men's team and one from the women's team making up each squad. The trio of Trent Meacham, Chris Hicks and Bjork defeated the team of Steve Holdren, Chester Frazier and Harris by the combined score of 25-16.
Normally a sea of orange, Assembly Hall was instead painted pink as the 12,000 fans in the attendance wore pink Fighting Illini Basketball T-Shirts designed to raise awareness for the fight against cancer. Proceeds from the sale of 20,000 shirts, coupled with a $7,500 donation from the Orange Krush student support group, helped Illinois raise a total of $47,500 for Coaches vs. Cancer at Illini Madness.
The festivities began with a number of high-energy performances by Hip-notic, Alpha Phi Alpha, Brickheadz and Muntu Dance Theatre. Ball 4 Real then took the court, taking on U of I intramural champions "The Johnnies" in a 10-minute scrimmage.
In addition to last night's events, the Illini women will have a "Think Pink" at their Feb. 10 game against Indiana as part of the Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) Think Pink week to raise awareness for breast cancer.
The Illini will now have three weeks of practice before their exhibition game at Assembly Hall on Nov. 4.
