Nov. 8, 2007
Complete Game 1 and 2 Notes (PDF) 
Game 1: Illinois (0-0) at Eastern Illinois (0-0)
Friday, Nov. 9, 2007 // 7 p.m. // Lantz Arena (5,300) // Charleston, Ill.
Game 2: UW-Milwaukee (0-0) at Illinois (0-0)
Sunday, Nov. 11, 2007 // 5 p.m. // Assembly Hall (16,618) // Champaign, Ill.
On The Air
Radio:
EIU: Illini Sports Network - WDWS AM 1400 (Dave Loane and Mike Koon)
UWM: Illini Sports Network - WDWS AM 1400 (Dave Loane and Mike Koon)
Internet:
EIU: Fightingillini.com LIVE streaming audio and livestats
UWM: Fightingillini.com LIVE streaming VIDEO and Gametracker
The Series
EIU: Illinois leads 7-5 overall and is tied 2-2 at EIU Last Meeting: Illinois 91, EIU 49 (12/19/2001 in Champaign)
UWM: First Meeting
The Coaches
Illinois: Jolette Law, 0-0 overall and at Illinois (first season)
EIU: Brady Sallee, 30-55 overall and at EIU (fourth season)
UWM: Sandy Botham, 202-139 overall (13th season) and 180-135 at UWM (12th season)
Quick Hits
• For Openers: Illinois opens its 34th season of women's basketball Friday night when it faces the Eastern Illinois Panthers in Charleston. Tip-off is at 7 p.m., with radio coverage on WDWS.
• Let's Play Two: On Sunday, Nov. 11, the Fighting Illini open things up at home by hosting the Wisconsin-Milwaukee Panthers at Assembly Hall. The game will begin at 5 p.m. and is the back-end a split doubleheader, following the Illini men vs. Northeastern at 1 p.m. Fans get in free to the women's game with their men's ticket, but will need to clear the arena after the men's game and re-enter for the women's game.
Illini In Openers
Illinois is 20-13 all-time in season openers, but just 3-6 when opening on the road. The last time the Illini began the season away from home was in 2005, when they rolled to a 79-39 at Loyola. In contrast, the Illini are 14-1 in season openers at home and 3-6 when starting the season on a neutral court.
When Illinois hosts Wisconsin-Milwaukee at Assembly Hall on Sunday, the Illini will be looking for their 10th straight home-opening win. Illinois is 27-6 all-time in home openers.
Law Makes Debut
Friday's game will mark the head coaching debut of Jolette Law. Law was named Illinois head coach on May 11 after spending 12 seasons as an assistant at Rutgers, including the last four as associate head coach. In her short time in Champaign, Law has already established herself as one of the hardest workers in the game. She hired a young, energetic staff to help instill a new work ethic, winning attitude and up-tempo style that is based on pressure defense.
New Faces
In addition to Law, several other faces will be making their Illini debuts on Friday. Assistant coaches Karen Middleton, Tamika Louis and Patrick Klein will all take to the Illinois bench for the first time. Middleton came to Illinois after 10 seasons as an assistant at Stanford. Lewis was a former head coach at Mott Community College and also worked as a corporate executive for GM, while Klein served as a graduate assistant for Ohio State, where he helped lead the Buckeyes to back-to-back Big Ten titles.
In addition to the coaches, freshmen Chelsea Buher and Lydia McCully will be suiting up for the Illini for the first time. Both were ranked as top-100 recruits coming out of high school by Blue Star Report, Buher 85th and McCully 46th.
Illini in the Rankings
After last season's fourth place Big Ten finish, expectations are high for Illinois in 2007-08, and some voters have taken notice. The Orange and Blue are ranked 21st in the CBS Sportsline.com/Basketball News Preseason Top-25 and received 17 votes in the first Associated Press poll, ranking 34th overall.
Coaches Pick Illinois Third in Preseason Poll
Illinois was picked to finish third in the Big Ten Conference preseason coaches poll, which was released at the annual Big Ten media day in Chicago Oct. 28. A panel of media members picked the Illini sixth. Below is a look at both complete polls:
Bjork Earns Preseason Accolade
Junior guard Lori Bjork was selected to the Preseason All-Big Ten Team by the coaches and the media after setting a school record with 84 three-pointers and earning second team All-Conference accolades in 2006-07. She is the first Illini named to the preseason All-Conference team since Allison Curtin in 2000-01.
Joining Bjork on the coaches All-Big Ten team were Michigan State's Allyssa DeHaan, Minnesota's Emily Fox, Ohio State's Marcilla Packer and Wisconsin's Jolene Anderson. Ohio State's Star Allen replaced Fox and joined the other four on the media's All-Conference team.
Illini Return Six Starters...that's right six
Illinois might be the only team in the country that can legitimately boast the return six starters. Last year's regular starting five of Lori Bjork (31 starts), Chelsea Gordon (31), Lacey Simpson (30), Danyel Crutcher (30) and Jenna Smith (22) all return, and the Illini welcome back Audrey Tabon, who made 26 starts in 2005-06 before missing all of last season with a knee injury.
In all, Illinois returns 85.7 percent of its minutes, 87.4 percent of its scoring, 86.5 percent of its rebounds, 95.7 percent of its three point field goals and 89.1 percent of its assists from last season.
Scouting Eastern Illinois
Last season, Eastern Illinois went 10-19 overall and 7-13 in the Ohio Valley Conference (OVC) for a ninth place finish. This year, with the top four scorers back and the return of another double digit scorer, the outlook is a lot brighter for the Panthers, who are picked to finish fourth in the OVC preseason coaches poll.
EIU will be led by first team All-Conference selection Rachel Galligan, a junior forward who averaged 17.2 points and 8.3 rebounds per game, and Jessica Huffman, the OVC Freshman of the Year who averaged 16.9 points and scored 38 points in a game last year to break the EIU single-game record. In addition to Galligan and Huffman, the Panthers are expected to get a big lift from the return of sophomore guard Megan Edwards, who averaged 10.5 points as a freshman in 2005-06 before missing all of last season with a knee injury.
The Panthers have an exciting, fast-paced style of play and are coached by Brady Sallee, who is in his fourth season at the helm. EIU won its two preseason games, 87-44 over Truman State, and 79-73 over the Chicago Odyssey.
Scouting Wisconsin-Milwaukee
UW-Milwaukee is the preseason coaches pick to win the Horizon League over 10-time defending champion UW-Green Bay. Last season, the Panthers were 15-16 overall and 10-6 in the league (fourth place). They return conference scoring and rebounding leader Traci Edwards, a 6-2 junior who averaged 20.5 points and 9.4 rebounds last season. Three other starters return to join Edwards, including sharpshooters Meredith Onson (8.0 ppg, 47 made threes) and Aubrey Hampton (7.9 ppg, 56 made threes). The Panthers beat Beloit, 102-25, and Wisconsin AAU, 76-47, in their exhibition games and play at Chicago State on Friday, Nov. 9, before heading to Illinois. The Panthers are coached by Sandy Botham, who is in her 12th season at UWM.
Preseason Recap
Illinois got off to an exciting start in head coach Jolette Law's Assembly Hall debut with an 86-39 exhibition win over DT3 on Nov. 4. Five Illini scored in double figures, led by junior guard Lori Bjork's 15 points - 13 of which came in the second half. Bjork also turned in five assists and three rebounds.
In its only exhibition game before the regular season, Illinois was led by its post players, which shot a combined 71 percent (22-of-31) from the field. Sophomore Jenna Smith was 7-of-10 from the field for 14 points and added seven rebounds, four blocks and three steals, while junior Stephanie Chelleen scored 13 points and senior Danyel Crutcher contributed 12. The Illini outscored DT3 in the paint 48-18 on the night.
The Illini's new-look full court pressure defense forced 34 DT3 turnovers on the night, and was especially stingy in the first five minutes of the second half, holding DT3 to just one field goal while going on a 22-5 run. Illinois shot the ball well, making 55 percent of its field goals (36-of-65) and holding DT3 to 24 percent shooting (15-of-63).
2006-07 in Review
Illinois finished the 2006-07 campaign with a record of 19-12 after a 66-51 loss at Kansas State in the WNIT Round of 16. 2006-07 was a successful season in which the Illini finished in fourth place in the Big Ten with an 8-8 conference mark and advanced to the postseason for the 10th time in the last 11 years.
Some headlines from 2006-07...
• Postseason Streak: With the WNIT bid, Illinois has advanced to postseason play in 10 of the last 11 years, with only the 2003-04 season being the odd year out. The Illini have advanced to the NCAA Tournament five times during that streak and to the WNIT the other five.
• Bjork Named Academic All-American: Illini sophomore Lori Bjork was named to the ESPN the Magazine Academic All-America third team with a 3.94 GPA in political science. She is the first Illini to earn the honor in 25 years and is one of only two sophomores on the first three teams, joining Tennessee's Candace Parker. She was also a first team ESPN the Magazine Academic All-District honoree and won the Illini sophomore Outstanding Scholar-Athlete Award for having the top GPA among all Illinois sophomore female student-athletes.
• Bjork Breaks Trey Record: On Feb. 18 at Indiana, Lori Bjork hit her 75th three-pointer to break the UI single season record of 74 previously held by Krista Reinking. Bjork finished the season with 84 threes to lead the Big Ten and rank 14th in the nation in 3FG per game (2.71). She enters 2007-08 ranked third on the UI career 3FG list with 137 in only two seasons.
• Glass Breaker: Freshman center Jenna Smith finished the season with 233 rebounds, breaking Kendra Gantt's UI rookie rebounding record of 226 boards (1981-82).
• Pair Named All-Big Ten: The Illini duo of Lori Bjork and Jenna Smith collected All-Big Ten honors. Bjork was a second team All-Big Ten selection by both the coaches and media, while Smith was an honorable mention selection to the All-Conference team and was picked to the coaches All-Freshman Team. Bjork was also chosen as Illinois' honoree for the Big Ten Sportsmanship Award.
• Getting It Done In Class: Seven members of Illinois' women's basketball team were named to the 2006-07 winter Academic All-Big Ten teams. That total is the most for a women's basketball team in 2006-07 and is the highest total in Illinois history. The Fighting Illini recognized were senior Erin Wigley, junior Stephanie Chelleen and sophomores Lori Bjork, Chelsea Gordon, Danielle Gratton, Erin McCarthy and Lacey Simpson.
Illinois On the Tube
At least seven Illini games will be televised nationally on the Big Ten Network this season. In all, the Big Ten Network will televise 55 regular-season contests. Additionally, all 10 games of the 2008 Big Ten Women's Basketball Tournament will be televised nationally as the BTN will broadcast the first nine contests, and the title match will air live on ESPN2. In all, more conference action will be televised than ever before, as 43 of the 99 Big Ten match-ups will be broadcast by the BTN, CBS or ESPN2.
2007-08 Illinois Big Ten Network Television Schedule
Dec. 5 Oklahoma 8 p.m. CT
Dec. 27 at Northwestern 7 p.m. CT
Jan. 21 Iowa 7 p.m. CT
Feb. 4 at Michigan 6 p.m. CT
Feb. 10 Indiana 1 p.m. CT
Feb. 21 Penn State 7 p.m. CT
Feb. 24 Michigan 5 p.m. CT
*March 2 Purdue 1/3 p.m. CT
* Wildcard game - will be selected by Feb. 19, 2008
The Big Ten Network has existing agreements with DirecTV, Dish Network and AT&T in addition to over 150 cable outlets nationwide. Fans who want to receive the Big Ten Network can call 1-866-WANT-B10 or visit www.BigTenNetwork.com and enter their zip code. For more information, visit www.BigTenNetwork.com.
Watch Illinois on fightingillini.com
For the fourth straight year, fans unable to make it to Assembly Hall can catch live streaming video of UI women's basketball home games on the web. Any game not televised by the Big Ten Network will be streamed live on fightingillini.com, which means at least eight home games can be viewed this season.
To have access to the games, fans will need to purchase an Illini All-Access subscription ($6.95 per month, $49.95 per year). A subscription includes access to all other Illinois video content, including football and men's basketball press conferences, live events for volleyball, wrestling and gymnastics, as well as live audio and highlight videos for all sports.

