INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – The Fighting Illini women's basketball team turned in its most complete game of the season en route to a 75-66 victory in Wednesday's Big Ten Tournament opener vs. Wisconsin.
All five starters tallied double-figures scoring and the team set a program and tournament record by shooting 75 percent from beyond the arc, allowing the Illini to dispatch the Badgers for the second consecutive season and advance to Thursday's second round.
Sophomore G Aaliyah Nye posted 17 points on 5-for-6 shooting from three-point ranges. Her backcourt mate, junior G Jada Peebles added 12 on 4-for-5 from distance.
The Illini also scored inside, as sophomore F Erika Porter added a career-high 15 points while battling in the paint. Adalia McKenzie added 12 points and dished out a career-high seven assists, while the league's top rebounder, sophomore F Kendall Bostic, notched a double-double with a game-high 16 rebounds and 12 points. Bostic also notched a career-high six assists.
Illinois opened up an early advantage over the Badgers, who got a game-high 27 points from Katie Nelson. Despite Nelson's offense, the Illini used a 12-0 run between the 7:07 and 4:05 marks of the third quarter to erase a 33-30 halftime deficit.
A Nye triple with 35 seconds left in the third put the Illini ahead by 14 points, 55-41. Nelson and teammate Julie Pospisilova combine to score 22 of the Badgers' final 25 points and pulled UW within four twice in the final 93 seconds. But the Illini slammed the door by closing the game on a 5-0 run to secure the victory.
Next up, the No. 14-seeded Fighting Illini advance to face No. 6 seeded Nebraska in the second round of the Big Ten Tournament. The Huskers (22-7, 11-7 B1G) will be seeded 14th and are slated to open Wednesday vs. No. 11-1seeded Wisconsin at 4:30 p.m. ET/3:30 p.m. CT on Big Ten Network.
TEAM NOTES
- The Fighting Illini improve to 7-19 on the season, earning the team's first win of the season away from State Farm Center.
- The Illini advance to the second round of the Big Ten Tournament for the second straight season after also defeating Wisconsin in last year's opening round.
- Illinois shot 75 percent (9-for-12) from three-point range Wednesday, setting both the program and Big Ten Tournament records for single-game three-point percentage.
- Illinois' 75 points marks the team's third-highest of the season. The team is now 6-1 on the year when scoring 70+ points.
INDIVIDUAL NOTES
- Sophomore F Erika Porter recorded a career-high 15 points on 7-for-11 shooting, while also tying her career-high mark with four blocks set earlier this season in Illinois' regular-season win over Wisconsin (Jan. 9).
- Freshman G Adalia McKenzie, playing in her first Big Ten Tournament Game, recorded a career-high seven assists while adding 14 points for her 11th double-digit scoring game of her rookie campaign. McKenzie's seven assists were one shy shy of matching the program's Big Ten Tournament game record of 8, accomplished twice by former Illini Jaelyne Kirkpatrick (vs. Nebraska, 3/1/17; vs. Penn State, 3/2/16).
- Junior G Jada Peebles (12 points) scored in double-figures for the eighth time this season and a team-most 29th time in her career as an Illini.
- Sophomore G Aaliyah Nye recorded a team-high 17 points, tallying double figures for a team-leading 15th time this season.
- Nye knocked down five three-pointers, pushing her career total to 94 and moving her past Courtney Joens (90 from 2016-20) into sole possession of 14th in the Illini record book. Nye is now six triples away from becoming the 12th player in program history with at least 100 for her career.
- Nye has now recorded 67 three-pointers on the season, moving past Melissa Parker (66 in 1998-99) into ninth in a single-season in program history.
- Sophomore F Kendall Bostic recorded her sixth double-double of the season with 12 points and a game-high 16 rebounds, plus a career-high six assists vs. the Badgers.
- Bostic, the Big Ten's rebounding leader at 11.44 rebounds per game, has led the Illini in rebounding in 22 consecutive games, and 25 of 26 games overall this season.
- Bostic has now recorded 302 rebounds on the year, becoming just the sixth player in Illini history to record 300+ rebounds in a single season.
- Bostic's 16 rebounds are now second all-time by an Illini in a Big Ten Tournament game, trailing only the team's all-time rebounding leader Jenna Smith who tallied 19 boards in a tourney game vs. Indiana on March 4, 2010.
PRESS CONFERENCE
HIGHLIGHTS
