By: Down by 19 midway through the second half, IC cut its deficit to five but could get no closer in a 72-63 defeat.
Box Score MONMOUTH, Ill. – A poor shooting night came at an awful time for the Illinois College women's basketball on Wednesday night. In need of a victory to clinch a berth into the Midwest Conference Tournament, the Lady Blues fell behind by as many as 19 points in the second half to Monmouth and a late rally came up short as the Scots handed IC a 72-63 defeat. Now 14-8 (11-6 MWC), Illinois College slips into a fourth place tie with Lake Forest College for the fourth and final spot in the MWC Tournament entering the regular season finale on Saturday afternoon.
Up against a Monmouth team playing its last home game of the season, Illinois College got off to a slow start and never fully recovered. The Lady Blues shot 24.1 percent from the field in the first half to trail by 13 points at the half. The Scots expanded their lead early in the second half before IC began to chip away, but the comeback came too late and Monmouth was able to hang on. Four players for Illinois College put up nearly identical numbers, with
Hannah McGinnis and
Ashley Hoegger each notching 13 points and eight rebounds.
Melissa Solorio added 13 points and seven boards, while
Maddy Keith had 11 points and eight rebounds.
A 7-0 run from the Scots in the first two minutes of the contest was an ominous start for the Lady Blues. Though Illinois College was able to score the next five points to make it a one-possession contest, the team would never pull even with Monmouth. A layup from Hoegger with just under 10 minutes remaining in the opening half sliced the Scots lead down to three at 17-14, but the team went cold after that, going nearly eight minutes without a field goal until
Alyssa Garde connected on a three-pointer with two minutes remaining until the break. Solorio came back with a three-pointer of her own on the next possession, but the Lady Blues still trailed, 37-24, at halftime.
Hoegger opened the scoring in the second half with another three-pointer, bringing Illinois College back to within 10 points. That would be the story in the early minutes of the half, with Monmouth always able to find an answer to an IC bucket to keep the lead in double-digits.
Kate Russow knocked home a pair of free throws with 13:17 remaining to make it a 48-37 game, but Monmouth responded with an 8-0 run in the next 1:40 to take its largest lead of the game, 56-37.
Illinois College refused to go quietly though.
Jill Friedrich scored the next time down the court on a short jumper, starting a 14-0 burst from the Lady Blues to cut the deficit down to five with 7:50 to play after a Solorio bucket. Following a Monmouth turnover, there was a chance for IC to make even more of a dent in the Scots' lead. Hoegger had a look at a three-pointer that could have made it a one-possession game once again, but the shot was off the mark. Moments later, Monmouth scored at the rim to ignite an 8-0 run that made it 64-51 with 5:16 to play. The Lady Blues would get no closer than eight points the rest of the way.
Now tied with Lake Forest at 11-6 through 17 conference matchups, Illinois College will go into Saturday afternoon's game against Grinnell needing a victory or a Lake Forest loss to clinch a bid into the MWC Tournament. Thanks to a 65-48 win on the road back on Jan. 10, IC holds the tiebreaker between the two schools in the event that they would close the season level in the conference standings. The Lady Blues tip off with Grinnell at 1 p.m. in Sherman Gymnasium, and the first 100 students through the door will receive special Senior Day t-shirts. Free pizza will also be available for students with a valid Illinois College ID.
