By: Hannah McGinnis scored 35 points and secured a Midwest Conference-record 27 rebounds to lead the Lady Blues to an 89-62 win over Knox on Wednesday.
Box Score JACKSONVILLE, Ill. – A Midwest Conference-record 27 rebounds from
Hannah McGinnis and a school-record 76 rebounds as a team led the Illinois College women's basketball team to a resounding 89-62 win over the Knox Prairie Fire on Wednesday night. McGinnis ended the night with 35 points on the offensive end, her second-highest scoring output of her career and a number that ties
Brittney Burgess' total against Knox from three seasons ago as the third highest single-game total in Illinois College history. The Lady Blues are now winners of four straight, improving to 10-5 (7-3 MWC).
Turnovers plagued Illinois College in the first matchup this season against Knox, and they played a role again tonight, however the shooting and rebounding prowess of the Lady Blues more than made up the difference. Knox held one lead in the game, 2-0, on a fast break layup 10 seconds in. From there, IC reeled off 12 unanswered points – six of which came from McGinnis – to establish an early 12-2 edge.
Knox was able to momentarily right the ship. The Prairie Fire responded with a 10-2 run of their own, cutting IC's advantage down to two points, 14-12, with six minutes gone. The lead would hover near there for much of the first half, with the Prairie Fire cutting the lead down to two on two more occasions, but they were never able to knot the score. By halftime, IC had the lead extended back out to six points, 40-34, with McGinnis supplying 16 points and 14 boards.
Two baskets in the opening minute of the second half from McGinnis and
Melissa Solorio bumped the Illinois College lead back up to double-digits at 44-34. A layup on the other end from Knox cut the lead to eight, but the stingy defense of IC erased any hopes of a comeback. Knox was limited to 11-of-52 (.212) shooting in the second half, and the Prairie Fire managed to make only 24-of-98 (.245) field goals in the game.
A three-pointer from Knox's Jessica Howard sliced IC's lead down to 70-57 with 6:40 remaining, still striking range for a team that plays as up-tempo as the Prairie Fire do. However, the Lady Blues responded with a 15-0 run over the subsequent four minutes to ice the game. By that point, the only question that was left unanswered was whether McGinnis would get the rebounds she needed to set the conference record. The doubts vanished with 2:34 remaining, when McGinnis grabbed the board on the back-end of a trip to the line from Naja Woods. She would head to the bench a minute later, record in tow.
McGinnis was far from the only contributor for the Lady Blues. Each starter for IC ended the night in double-figures, with
Ashley Hoegger (12 points, 12 rebounds) and
Maddy Keith (10 points, 10 rebounds) each notching double-doubles. Solorio added 12 points and
Jill Friedrich chipped in with 11.
For Knox, Howard was the top scorer with 14 points, making 5-of-11 field goals. However, the other four starters for the Prairie Fire shot a combined 4-of-42.
Illinois College will now host Carroll University on Jan. 24, with a chance to pull even with the Pioneers in the MWC standings. While IC stands at 7-3 in conference play, a narrow loss by Carroll at home to St. Norbert drops the Pioneers to 8-2 in the MWC. Tip-off on Saturday is set for 1 p.m. at Sherman Gymnasium.
