By: Holding the Highlanders to 26 percent shooting for the game, Illinois College pulled away in the second half for a 65-39 win.
Box Score JACKSONVILLE, Ill. – It wasn't a masterpiece, but first games of the season rarely are. Fighting off some opening night jitters, the Illinois College women's basketball team steadily showed its superiority in a 65-39 win on Monday night over MacMurray in the Highlanders' Bill Wall Gymnasium. Reigning Midwest Conference Player of the Year
Hannah McGinnis led the way for the Lady Blues with 22 points and 15 rebounds to help the team to a 1-0 start.
Maddy Keith also made it to double-figures on the night with 12 points. Making significant contributions off the bench were
Mickalah York – who had eight points on 4-of-4 shooting and six rebounds – and
Hanna Bergkoetter with seven points and five rebounds.
Early on, the pressure of the IC defense was too much for MacMurray to handle. Five turnovers inside the opening four minutes allowed the Lady Blues to open up an 8-0 lead before the Highlanders could get on the board. Consecutive baskets from McGinnis and York pushed the lead to double-digits for the first time at 12-2 with just over five minutes gone.
The Illinois College lead would hover around that 10-point mark for much of the first half. In the closing two minutes, an 8-2 run started off by a three-point play from McGinnis gave the Lady Blues a 35-19 lead at the break.
IC was sluggish to start the second half and MacMurray whittled the lead down to 11, 44-33, with less than 12 minutes remaining. That would be as close as the Highlanders would get. The Lady Blues responded with a 12-0 burst to open up a 56-33 edge with eight minutes to go that put the game away.
Solid defense for much of the night by Illinois College led to 30 turnovers and 26 percent shooting from the Highlanders for the game. MacMurray only managed to shoot 21.4 percent in the second half. Twenty-one rebounds on the offensive glass by the Lady Blues led to an 18-8 edge in second chance points.
Illinois College makes its home debut inside Sherman Gymnasium on Wednesday night with a 7 p.m. tip against visiting Fontbonne University.
