Nov. 16, 2008
Box Score
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - It was once again a tale of two halves for Jolette Law's young Fighting Illini squad. After a strong first half and sub-par second half in Friday's season-opening win at IPFW, the Illini turned the tables in Sunday's home-opener against Eastern Illinois, starting out slow and then surging in the second half for a 49-45 victory. Illinois has now won 12 straight home-openers and is 29-6 all-time in the season's first home game.
Illinois (2-0) trailed by 12 at the break, 28-16, and went down by 14 after an EIU lay-up three seconds into the second half, but the Fighting Illini took over from there. After clawing back to within four, 32-28, with 12:32 to play Panther guard Ashley Thomas hit a three to put EIU back up seven, but the Fighting Illini responded with a 12-0 run to take control of the game.
A three-point play by junior center Jenna Smith gave the Illini their first lead since the opening minutes, 38-35, with 7:29 to play and they would not relinquish it from there. EIU crept back to within two, 43-41, with 2:56 to play, but Illinois salted the game away with free throws down the stretch.
Illinois' defense was the story in the second half, forcing 13 EIU turnovers while holding them to just 17 points and 32 percent shooting. During one eight-minute stretch in the second half, the Orange and Blue defense held EIU (1-1) to just two points and forced 10 turnovers.
Smith scored 12 of her game-high 16 points in the second half despite seeing constant double and triple-teams. She was also imposing on the defensive end, blocking five EIU shots to go over 100 for her career. She finished the game with 103 career blocked shots and is the fifth player in school history to block at least 100 shots as an Illini.
Junior forward Lacey Simpson followed up her near triple-double performance on Friday with another big game, pouring in 14 points and pulling down 11 rebounds today for her fifth career double-double. Senior forward Chelsea Gordon finished with a career-high four steals and also added six points, five rebounds, two assists and two blocks, while redshirt freshman Lydia McCully played a solid game with eight points and three assists.
The Illini were hot right out of the gates, hitting their first three shots and jumping out to 7-0 lead less than three minutes in. Gordon sparked the early run with two steals in the opening minutes, but Simpson, another defensive spark for the Illini, left the game with 11:38 remaining in the half with two fouls and the hosts had trouble keeping their intensity up with her on the bench. The Illini hit just 4-of-23 shots the rest of the half as EIU outscored them 28-9 in the final 17 minutes to take a 28-16 lead into the break.
Illinois won despite shooting just 31 percent from the field and 13 percent from three-point land thanks to stifling defense. Freshman Fabiola Josil disrupted the EIU offense in the second half with her full court pressure and helped the Orange and Blue force 19 Panther turnovers.
Law settled on a rotation in the second half, playing the same line-up of Smith, Simpson, Gordon, Josil and McCully the entire second half. Junior Whitney Toone started at forward and freshmen Macie Blinn (eight minutes) and Lana Rukavina (nine minutes) both contributed in first half, while freshman guard Eboni Mitchell made her Illini debut, playing two minutes after missing the opener with an injury.
Today's game against EIU kicked-off a three-game homestand that continues on Wednesday, Nov. 19, when Missouri comes to Assembly Hall for an 8:30 p.m. game that will be televised by the Big Ten Network. The homestand wraps-up when the Fighting Illini host Temple on Sunday, Nov. 23, at 7:30 p.m.
