March 6, 2009

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INDIANAPOLIS - Illinois' hopes of repeating last year's Cinderella run in the Big Ten Tournament were halted Friday night at the hands of top-seeded and 12th-ranked Ohio State. The Buckeyes raced out to a big lead early and cruised to a 70-53 win over the Fighting Illini in the quarterfinals of the conference tournament at Conseco Fieldhouse. The loss brings Illinois' season to a close with a record of 10-21, but the team finished the season playing its best ball, going 6-5 during the final stretch after starting 4-16.

As has been the case all season, juniors Jenna Smith and Lacey Simpson led the way for the Orange and Blue. Smith poured in 23 points on 9-of-18 shooting and pulled down eight rebounds, while Simpson added 12 points, nine rebounds, four assists and two steals despite struggling from the field.

The game was a rematch from last year's quarterfinals, when the No. 9 seeded Illini topped No. 1 seeded Ohio State en route to the title game. This year, the Buckeyes showed right from the start that history would not repeat itself. The regular season conference champions started the game a perfect 10-of-10 from the field and jumped out to a 24-7 lead at the 12:31 mark. The Buckeyes defense held the Illini scoreless for nearly six minutes midway through the half, pushing the lead to as many as 26 points, 40-14, with 1:19 to play. OSU went into the break with a 41-19 lead. the most points Illinois gave up in the first half all season. In the half, Ohio State outscored Illinois 26-6 in the paint and shot 67 percent from the field compared to the Illini's 31 percent. Smith was the only Illini who could get anything going offensively, scoring 11 of the Illini's 19 first-half points.

Illinois outscored the Buckeyes 34-29 in the second half, but the hole was too big to dig out off. The Illini came out of halftime much more composed, scoring the first six points to cut OSU's lead to 41-25, but that was as close as they would get. Ohio State (25-5) shot 57 percent for the game, while the Orange and Blue hit just 33 percent of their shots. The Buckeyes also held a 46-16 edge in the paint and had 15 fast break points compared to none for the Illini.

In addition to Smith and Simpson, freshman guard Lydia McCully scored 14 points, just one off her career-high of 15, hitting 2-of-2 from behind the arc and 4-of-4 from the line. Outside of that trio, however, the rest of the Illini combined to score just four points on 1-of-11 shooting. Junior Whitney Toone did have a big game defensively, setting a new career-high with three steals despite battling a sore knee for much of the game.

Big Ten Player of the Year Jantel Lavender led Ohio State with 22 points and 11 rebounds, and sophomore guard Brittany Johnson scored a career-high 16 points on perfect 7-of-7 shooting for the Buckeyes, who advance to face Iowa in Saturday's semifinal.

Postgame Notes
• Juniors Jenna Smith and Lacey Simpson carried the Illini in their two Big Ten Tournament games, with Smith averaging 23.5 points, 7.0 rebounds and 2.0 blocks and Simpson averaging 15.5 points, 11.5 rebounds, 5.5 assists, 3.0 steals and 1.5 blocks.

• Simpson and Smith rank first and second, respectively, in Illinois' career Big Ten Tournament rebounding list. Simpson has 57 rebounds in three seasons playing in the Big Ten Tournament, while Smith is close behind with 54.

• Smith scored 23 points against Ohio State, ending the season ranked fifth on the UI all-time scoring list with 1,545 career points.

• Smith scored in double figures in each of the Illini's 31 games this season and has a streak of 39 consecutive games with at least 10 points. She has also scored in double figures in 67 of her last 68 games.

• Smith set both the Illinois single-season and career record for blocks in 2008-09. Her totals this year were 53 blocks on the season and 161 for her career.

• Smith also moved up to fourth on the Illinois career rebounding list, with 830 career boards.

• Smith ended the season with 20 consecutive made free throws, dating back to Illinois' game at Iowa on Feb. 26. She ended the year shooting 80.1 percent (129-for-161) from the charity stripe.

• Simpson set the Illinois career steals record this season, ending 2008-09 with 255 career steals. She also ranks second on the UI single-season steals list, with 97 this season.

• Simpson also ranks sixth on the UI career assists list, finishing the year with 324 total, and is tied for fourth on the Illinois career blocks list with 119.

• Simpson had the third-best rebounding season in Illinois history, with 383 boards in 2008-09.

• Head coach Jolette Law is now 4-2 in the Big Ten Tournament in two seasons at Illinois.