CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- No. 25 Illinois dropped its final home game of the season to Nebraska, 90-57, at State Farm Center on Wednesday night.
The Illini closed their home schedule with 12 victories, their most in a season since 2006-07. Head coach Shauna Green is the the first Illinois women's basketball head coach to reach a total attendance mark of 50,000 in their first season. The Illini finished with a total home attendance of 52,295 - the fifth-best single-season mark in program history.
Makira Cook tallied a team-high 16 points, her fifth consecutive double-digit scoring performance of the season. Cook dished out a team-high five assists and made one steal.
Genesis Bryant registered 10 points, knocked down two 3-pointers, and recorded four assists.
Adalia McKenzie finished with 10 points and grabbed a team-high three offensive rebounds.
Kendall Bostic blocked two shots to go along with eight points and three rebounds.
Jada Peebles returned to the starting lineup and scored seven points in her third start of the season.
The short-handed Illini squad was without the services of Brynn Shoup-Hill and Jayla Oden, who have combined for 40 starts across the season.
No. 25 Illinois (20-8, 10-7) will close out its regular-season campaign on the road against Rutgers (11-17, 5-11) on Sunday afternoon at 1 p.m. CT.
QUOTES
Shauna Green
On what seniors Geovana Lopes and Jada Peebles, who were honored on Senior Night, have meant to the program:
"Obviously, them wanting to stay and wanting to be a part of our program when I got the job. Anything we've asked off both of them, it's been all in. That's this whole team, but especially those seniors. The positivity, the energy that they both bring, the experience was huge. Geo doesn't play a ton of minutes, but the positivity, how hard she works: She literally makes me laugh every single day. I love both of them. They've been great for us. I appreciate them, and they've grown. They've both grown as players, they've grown as people, even in my short time here. It's been fun to watch, and we're just very grateful for them."
On the amount of focus she put toward home attendance this season:Â
"We have to have that, and I focused on it from day one. I said, even at my press conference, that we have to have people come out to support this program. If we want to be a top-25 team consistently in the country and a top team in this league, we have got to have the fan support; you just have to. Look around the league, and everyone has it. When we played at Nebraska, they had people. When we were at Indiana, it was 8,000. I mean, look at the numbers. Purdue, Indiana, they had sellouts. I think Iowa has a sellout this week versus Indiana. Last night, the Iowa-Maryland game, there was 9,000 there. This league has set the bar high now. We're happy with 6,000, but everyone else is getting 9, 10, 11, 12, so I'm not going to get too greedy too fast. I'm very, very grateful for the community. Let's just continue to climb, and hopefully we can get to where a lot of these other programs are because they've built it over time."
POST-GAME NOTESÂ
Player Notes
- Kendall Bostic scored eight points and added three rebounds.
- Genesis Bryant scored 10 points, while chipping in three rebounds and four assists.
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Makira Cook scored a team-high 16 points to go along with two rebounds and five assists.
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Her team-leading 24th double-digit scoring game of the season.
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Knocked down at least three 3-pointers for the third-straight game, her longest such streak of the season.
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Cook also recorded a team-high five assists, her 10th game of the year with at least five assists.  Â
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Adalia McKenzie scored 10 points and secured four rebounds.
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Jada Peebles scored seven points in her return to the starting lineup.
Team Notes
- Illinois won the tip and Makira Cook opened the scoring with a 3-pointer just 9 seconds in, with an assist from Genesis Bryant.
- The Illini finished the season with 12 wins at State Farm Center, their most home wins in a season since the 2006-07 season (13).
Misc. NotesÂ
- Starters: Makira Cook, Genesis Bryant, Adalia McKenzie, Jada Peebles and Kendall Bostic. Illinois is 0-1 with this unit.
- The Illini moved to 20-8 on the season.Â
- Illinois finished the season with a total home attendance of 52,295 - the fifth-best mark in a single season in program history.
- Shauna Green is the only Illini women's basketball head coach to ever bring in a total season attendance of 50,000 or better in their first season.
- Shauna Green is now:
- 20-8 at Illinois
- 10-7 in the Big Ten
- 147-58 as a Division I coach
- 176-83 overall
- Against Nebraska record: 6-19 (25th meeting)
- 2-9 when playing in Champaign
- Shauna Green vs. Nebraska: 1-1
- Illinois is now 1-1 when wearing its pink uniforms.
- Illinois is now 8-4 in games played after 5 p.m.
