CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – Sophomore Alex Wittinger earned her fifth career double-double on Sunday, lifting Illinois over UABP, 70-58. Wittinger posted 23 points and grabbed 12 rebounds to lead the Illini, also tallying four rejections and three steals on the day. With the win, the Orange and Blue improve to 1-1 on the season.
The fourth quarter was the story on Sunday, as Illinois started the final period on a 5-0 run and outscored the Golden Lions 21-7 in the period to take the final lead in the game. The Illini held UAPB without a field goal for more than four minutes in the fourth quarter and shot better than 58-percent from the field. Illinois did not miss a free throw in the second half of play, going 7-for-7 in the final period.
"I thought we played a really good fourth quarter," head coach Matt Bollant said. "I think the biggest thing was that we did a good job scoring the basketball. We made the extra pass and found the open player. Because of that, we shot 58-percent and held them to 10-percent shooting in that fourth quarter."
The Golden Lions were ready to go right off the bat on Sunday, taking the lead over Illinois to start the game. The Illini pushed back to tie up the game with less than two minutes to play, and freshman Brandi Beasley hit a last-second jumper to give the Orange and Blue a 19-18 lead heading into the second quarter. Beasley put up four points in the first quarter, but UI was led by six points from Wittinger.
The Golden Lions went on an 8-1 run to start the second quarter and regain the lead from Illinois. Wittinger combined with sophomore Jaelyne Kirkpatrick to tie up the game with 2:27 to go until halftime, but UAPB took the 35-33 lead into the locker room. Wittinger was 6-for-9 with a team leading 12 points at the break and Kirkpatrick recorded five points in the second quarter to bring her halftime scoring total to eight.
The Illini outrebounded UAPB 23-19 in the first half, but the Golden Lions forced nine Illinois turnovers before the break. The Illini scored four points off of UAPB's five first-half turnovers.
Illinois came out of the locker room strong as Kirkpatrick and Wittinger netted back-to-back buckets to start the third quarter and take back their lead. UAPB responded quickly, pulling ahead by as much as five points in the third period. The Illini pushed back to again tie the game just before the fourth quarter. Despite a UAPB bucket to end the third period, the Illini shifted the momentum and pulled away in the fourth quarter.
Kirkpatrick and sophomore Cierra Rice joined Wittinger in double-digits in Sunday's victory. Kirkpatrick tallied a career-high 13 points overall, while Rice finished with 11 points, scoring nine of those in the fourth quarter.
"I thought Alex [Wittinger] did a really good job on No. 25 [Niya Head]," Bollant said of Illinois' improvements in the final period. "She [Head] was having a heck of a game and Alex did a really good job in the fourth quarter by finding her and making things tough. I thought Jaelyne [Kirkpatrick] did a nice job and then Cierra [Rice] had nine points in the fourth quarter and looked a little bit more like the CeCe Rice we know and love from last year. It was great to see different players step up and make good plays, I am really proud of our team. It was a good confidence builder. We needed to play better in the fourth quarter today and that's what we did."
As a team, Illinois made 18-of-19 shots from the charity stripe, good for 94.7-percent shooting. The Illini also outrebounded UAPB 45-38 in the contest and tallied 19 second chance points off of 12 offensive rebounds.
The Illini will be back in action on Thursday, Nov. 17, hosting Memphis in a noon contest. Illinois will continue their canned food drive to benefit Feeding Our Kids, and selected players will sign autographs following the game.
Notes
- The Fighting Illini earned their first victory of the 2016-17 season with a 70-58 win over the UAPB Lions. The Orange and Blue are now 1-1 this season.
- Illinois improves to 2-0 all-time against UAPB. The meeting was the first for head coach Matt Bollant against the Lions.
- UAPB went more than four minutes without a bucket in the middle of the fourth quarter.
- The Fighting Illini closed out the game on a 26-9 run, after facing a 49-44 deficit late in the third quarter.
- Sophomore Alex Wittinger finished with 23 points and 12 rebounds on Sunday, her 15th-career double-figure scoring game, seventh-career double-digit rebounding game and fifth double-double of her career.
- With 13 points, sophomore Jaelyne Kirkpatrick set a new career high on the day, scoring in double figures for the second time in her career.
- Freshman Ali Andrews finished with nine points, six rebounds and two assists on Sunday, all career-best marks.
- Freshman Brandi Beasley tied her career high in points and set new career bests in rebounds and assists against UAPB, ending the day with eight points, eight rebounds and three assists.
- Sophomore Cierra Rice recorded her 10th double-digit scoring game of her career, and tied her career-best mark in rebounds, finishing with 11 points and eight rebounds on the day.
- True freshman Petra Holešínská made her first career start for the Illini on Sunday. The guard from Vracov, Czech Republic, finished with two points and three rebounds.
- Illinois shot a 94.7 percent (18-for-19) on free throws, the best mark for the Illini since shooting 88.9 (8-for-9) percent against Minnesota on Jan. 7, 2016.
- Three Illini were perfect from the charity stripe against UAPB – Beasley (2-for-2), Kirkpatrick (4-for-4) and Rice (5-for-5). Wittinger had the only miss, shooting 7-for-8 from the line.
