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CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Illinois sophomore Jacqui Grant scored the game's first six points and the Fighting Illini never looked back, pulling away for a 95-69 win over Minnesota Thursday at State Farm Center. UI had three players top 20 points for the first time in two seasons, as Grant tied her career high with 29, Ivory Crawford had 23 and Kyley Simmons notched a career-high 22. Illinois snapped a seven-game losing streak and sent the Gophers to their fourth loss in their last five games.

"I told our team afterward that you don't play like that if your attitude isn't in the right place," Illini head coach Matt Bollant said. "A lot of teams, when they go through a losing streak, it's easy to point fingers, it's easy to get selfish, it's easy to question teammates or coaches. And we didn't have any of that. They were a great team, they stayed together, they put their hearts in the right place, and because of that, they played really, really well tonight.

"Jacqui got us going in that first half and played really, really well. Kyley and Ivory knocked down shots, and Ivory was great moving the basketball. She had 11 assists and was driving it and kicking it. We got our shot tonight, which led to a lot of points and was really fun. I'm really proud of our team for staying together and because of that we had a great win tonight."

The Illini (12-11 overall, 3-8 in the Big Ten) finished the game on a 12-0 run over the last 2:05 and a 20-4 push in the final 4:41. Illinois held Minnesota (17-6, 6-5) to just two field goals in the last 10:54 as the Gophers shot just 2-of-20 in that span. UM had pulled within three of Illinois with 10:55 left in the game but went cold from there as the Illini out-scored Minnesota 31-8 from that point.

Crawford came up two rebounds shy of recording the second triple-double in Illinois history, as she finished with 23 points, a career-best 11 assists and eight rebounds in just her second game back from a knee injury. Grant made 12-of-23 shots from the field, both career highs, and equaled the career-best 29 points she scored at Penn State on Jan. 4 while also pulling down eight boards. Simmons drained a career-best 6-of-9 three-pointers on the way to her 22 points, dropped six assists and didn't commit a turnover - her second-straight turnover-free game.

Chatrice White joined that trio in double figures with 11 points and nine rebounds, while Brittany Carter snared 10 rebounds while dishing four assists and making three steals.

Illinois shot 45.5 percent from the field and made 10-of-23 three-pointers (43.5 percent), while holding the Gophers to just 7-of-27 (25.9 percent) from long range among Minnesota's 42.4 percent shooting night. The Illini also made 15-of-18 free throws (83.3 percent) while sending the Gophers to the line only 11 times (6-of-11, 54.5 percent).

Most telling, UI dominated Minnesota on the glass, holding a 52-30 edge that included a whopping 23 offensive boards, Illinois' most in Big Ten play. The Illini also held Gopher center Amanda Zahui B., who entered the game with 16 double-doubles in 22 outings, without a double-double, keeping the sophomore from Sweden to just eight rebounds after she came into the night entering 13.0 rebounds per game in Big Ten play.

The Illini raced out of the gates, scoring the game's first six points and leading Minnesota 10-3 just 3:39 into the contest, on the strength of eight early points from Grant. The Gophers closed within four twice in the next minute, but Ivory Crawford and Chatrice White notched three-point plays on consecutive trips down the court to push the lead to 23-15.

Illinois kept building its margin, pushing to nine on another bucket from Grant then answering Minnesota treys with triples from Amarah Coleman and Kyley Simmons, then Simmons pushing the advantage to 36-26 with her third trifecta of the contest at the 7:09 mark of the first half.

The Gophers hung around, getting within nine on a Shae Kelley layup with 1:17 left in the half, but Crawford hit a jumper with 27 seconds left. Minnesota called timeout with 14 seconds on the clock but Crawford shot the passing lane after the inbounds pass, made the layup and finished the three-point play. Zahui got a layup at the buzzer, though, making Illinois' halftime lead 48-36.

The Gophers came out on edge in the second half, using a 15-6 run to get within three at 58-55 on Mikayla Bailey's three-pointer with 12:50 left. Crawford answered with a trey of her own and Simmons drained a triple after a Zahui jumper. But Minnesota got back-to-back buckets in the paint to once again pull within three of Illinois.

That's when the Illini found their groove again, with White's jumper in the paint starting an 11-0 run that put the game away. Simmons drained another trey and Grant made three straight baskets, while Minnesota went cold and was limited to one shot on each possession by a tenacious Illini rebounding effort.

Illinois held Minnesota without a field goal for 6:14, opening the lead as wide as 14, but Zahui's jumper at the 4:41 mark snapped that drought and cut the margin to 10. The Illini scored the next seven points, though, as Crawford sandwiched two buckets in the paint around a three-point play by Grant, while the Illini defense forced three straight missed shots and a turnover on the other end, allowing UI to pad the lead to 82-65 with 2:57 remaining.

It was academic from there, with Carlie Wagner's three-pointer at the 2:05 mark Minnesota's only field goal in the final 4:40 as Illinois ran away for the 95-69 win.

The Illini head north to Northwestern for a 1 p.m. tipoff on Sunday.