Feb. 15, 2007

Box Score

IOWA CITY, Iowa - Illinois trailed for most of the game, but came up big down the stretch to pull out an important 74-69 road victory at Iowa Thursday night. Iowa native Lori Bjork led Illinois with 20 points and hit four three-pointers to equal Krista Reinking's single season Illinois record for three-point field goals made, but she wasn't the only Illini to have a big game. Danyel Crutcher and Jenna Smith both had double-doubles and Lacey Simpson had another huge all-around game as Illinois moved into sole possession of fourth place in the Big Ten with a conference mark of 7-6 and an overall record of 17-8.

"I thought we've played well these last three games but just couldn't pull out the wins," said Illinois head coach Theresa Grentz, whose team was coming off three straight losses to the top three teams in the league. "Tonight we made some key plays and came up big when it mattered. Now we need to do it again on the road on Sunday."

Illinois took the lead for good when Bjork drained a three from the left corner to give Illinois a 68-67 lead with 1:19 to play. Bjork then blocked Kristi Smith on the ensuing Iowa possession; Jenna Smith snared the rebound and passed ahead to Crutcher who found Simpson streaking to the hoop. Simpson made the lay-up and was fouled by Iowa's Jenee Graham. Simpson made the free throw to put Illinois up 71-67 with 45 second left.

"I was surprised to be that open, especially in that situation," said Bjork of her record-tying 74th three of the season that gave Illinois the lead . "I took my time and knocked it down and it was a big shot. That, and Lacey's three-point play on the next possession, was definitely the deciding sequence."

Iowa's Kristi Smith hit two free throws just five seconds after Simpson's three-point play to make it 71-69, setting up another key Illini possession. With a 10 second differential between the shot clock and game clock Iowa decided not to foul, so Illinois ran the shot clock down and found Jenna Smith inside for a reverse lay-up with 12 second left to seal it.

Smith finished with 15 points and 10 rebounds for Illinois, while Crutcher had her second straight double-double with 17 points and 10 boards. Simpson also had another huge game with a career-high 18 points to go along with eight rebounds, seven assists, three steals and two blocks. Illinois shot a sizzling .615 in the second half (16-26) and finished the game at .482 from the field (27-56).

Illinois trailed by as a many as 12 with just over two minutes to play in the first half but went on a 7-0 to finish the half and pull within 34-29 at the break. The Illini then went inside to Crutcher on the first two possessions of the second half to make it 34-33 and it was nip-and-tuck the rest of the way, with the largest lead the by either team being the five-point final margin.

"The run at the end of the first half was critical," said Grentz. "Then in the second half we decided that were going to come out and pound it inside, and that's what we did."

The Illinois victory snapped a six-game losing streak to the Hawkeyes and was just the second victory by and Illini team in Iowa City in the last 24 years. Wendy Ausdemore led the Hawkeyes with a career-high 29 points. Iowa was without leading scorer Megan Skouby, who missed her fourth straight game with a broken bone in her non-shooting (left) hand.

The Orange and Blue will travel to Bloomington, Ind., to face the Indiana Hoosiers in their final road game of the regular season this Sunday, Feb. 18. Game time against the Hoosiers is set for 2 p.m. ET/1 p.m. CT. Illinois will then close the regular season with a pair of home games against ranked foes, hosting #24/24 Michigan State on Thursday, Feb. 22 at 7 p.m., and then closing the season at Assembly Hall with #16/15 Purdue on Sunday, Feb. 25 at 2 p.m.