CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – Fighting Illini women's basketball fell to Mercer, 51-33, on Tuesday evening. Sophomore Alex Wittinger earned her third consecutive double-double with a career-best 16 rebounds in the matchup but the Illini fall to 2-3 on the season.
"I was proud of Alex's effort and her energy," head coach Matt Bollant said. "I felt like if we could've gotten her some more shots she would have knocked them down. I thought we did a good job to start the second half, we executed the game plan fairly well defensively. But Mercer packed it in, and it's hard to get any wide open threes against a packed-in zone. We have good shooters, we just didn't knock them down."
The Bears came out strong on Tuesday, outscoring the Illini 23-16 before the halftime break. Illinois started the second quarter strong defensively, holding Mercer without a field goal for more than three minutes. Illinois grabbed 23 rebounds before the break, and was led in scoring by freshman Brandi Beasley and sophomore Jaelyne Kirkpatrick who posted five first-half points apiece.
Wittinger came out of the halftime break on fire as she scored Illinois' 10 points in the period. The scoring streak pushed Wittinger into double figures for the night and secured her third consecutive double-double this season. By the end of the third quarter, Wittinger had racked up 15 rebounds, which tied her previous career-high mark. She closed the night with 16 overall. She also tallied 12 points and two blocks.
The Illini held Mercer without a three-point field goal until the final minute of the game, but the Bears allowed just seven Illini points during the final quarter. The Illini outrebounded Mercer 47-42 overall, led by Wittinger's 16 boards. Redshirt junior Kennedy Cattenhead grabbed a season-best eight rebounds, and Beasley tied her career-best with eight boards as well. Beasley played all 40 minutes of the game, also finishing with five points and a team-high three assists.
Illinois will have a few days off for the Thanksgiving holiday before returning to State Farm Center for the Big Ten/ACC Challenge on Nov. 30. Illinois will host Wake Forest at 7 p.m. Stay tuned to FightingIllini.com for all the latest on Illinois women's basketball.
Notes:
-Alex Wittinger earned her third consecutive double-double with 12 points and 16 rebounds. Her 16 rebounds mark a career best. Her previous career-high of 15 was set at Minnesota last season.
-Wittinger had her fourth multi-block game of the season with two blocks on Tuesday night.
-Redshirt-junior Kennedy Cattenhead had a season-high eight rebounds, which ties her career-high.
-Freshman Brandi Beasley grabbed a career-best eight rebounds and played a career-high 40 minutes.
