March 5, 2010
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INDIANAPOLIS - The Fighting Illini's hopes for another run to the Big Ten Tournament title game were dashed by top-seeded Ohio State Thursday night in Indianapolis. Illinois cut a 16-point second-half deficit to six late in the game, but could get no closer in a 66-55 loss to the 10th-ranked Buckeyes. Senior Jenna Smith had 13 points and 11 rebounds to become both the Big Ten Tournament's career rebounding leader and the Illinois single-season rebounding record holder. She also moved to within two points of the Illinois career scoring record.
Illinois (16-14) cut a nine-point halftime deficit to four, 33-29, with five quick points to start the second half. However, the Buckeyes responded with a 20-8 run to push their lead out to 53-37 with 9:47 remaining. The Illini wouldn't go away quietly though, as they would go on a 12-2 run to close within 57-51 at the 5:03 mark. After a stop on the defensive end, the Illini have two great looks to cut the lead even more, but a three-pointer by Smith and a long jumper by Lacey Simpson were both off the mark. Ohio State's Jantel Lavender then hit a bucket on the other end to push it back to an eight point UI deficit and they would get no closer from that point on.
In the first half, Ohio State (28-4) used an early 17-4 run to turn a 3-0 Illini lead into a 17-7 score in favor of the Buckeyes. The Illini stayed close from there, cutting the deficit to five on two occasions, but OSU pushed it out to a nine-point advantage at halftime, 33-24. Ten first-half turnovers by the Illini were costly as they led to a 9-0 advantage in both points off turnovers and fast break points for the Buckeyes.
For the game, 18 Illinois turnovers led to 18 points for the Buckeyes on the other end and free throw shooting was also a big factor in the game as OSU hit 12-of-13 from the charity stripe compared to 2-of-6 for Illinois. The Orange and Blue shot 38 percent for the game while Ohio State hit 40 percent of its shot attempts. The Illini outrebounded the Buckeyes 45-34.
Smith hit 6-of-13 from the field for her 13 points, brining her career scoring total to 2,087 which is just off of Ashley Berggren's UI record of 2,089. Her 11 boards give her 84 career rebounds in the Big Ten Tournament to pass the record of 83 held by former Purdue star Lindsay Wisdom-Hylton. Her 2009-10 season total of 338 boards surpasses Lynnette Robinson's 29 year-old record of 335.
Simpson also had 13 points for the Illini and had one steal to move into a tie atop the UI single-season steals list with 102. Sophomore Lydia McCully had 11 points for the Orange and Blue, and senior Whitney Toone provided a spark off the bench with eight points. Freshman Karisma Penn added six points, eight rebounds, four assists, two blocks and two steals.
Illinois will now wait to see its postseason fate. The NCAA Tournament field will be announced on Monday, March 15, and the WNIT field will be put together later that night after the NCAA field is announced.
