By: Double-doubles from Maddy Keith and Hannah McGinnis helped Illinois College keep pace in a packed MWC race.
Box Score APPLETON, Wis. – There are no easy wins this time of year. Though rarely threatened, the Illinois College women's basketball struggled to put away winless Lawrence University on Saturday afternoon in LU's Alexander Gymnasium. In the end though, a 30-point, 18-rebound performance from
Hannah McGinnis, as well as a double-double from running mate
Maddy Keith allowed the Lady Blues to leave town with a 65-52 victory over the Vikings.
Playing with a short bench, foul trouble is one thing that is critical for Illinois College to avoid, but the team had to fight its way through on this day. McGinnis fouled out of the game in the final minute and two other Lady Blues ended with four fouls, yet the team was able make enough plays to build a lead and add to Lawrence's misery.
The Vikings took the lead inside of a minute, but Illinois College answered on the other end with a
Melissa Solorio three-pointer. The Lady Blues would not trail again from there, but it was a tougher task than expected. After
Alyssa Garde and McGinnis nailed consecutive three-pointers, the IC lead was 18-5 with just over seven minutes gone, yet the Vikings would hang in the game and use a 7-1 run late in the half to pull back within six points at 29-23. Layups from McGinnis and Keith as the clock ticked towards halftime gave the Lady Blues a 10-point cushion at the break.
An inspired start to the second half extended IC's run out to 14-0, giving the Lady Blues a 43-23 edge. McGinnis supplied the first eight points of the second half before Keith ended it with a layup. The Illinois College lead peaked at 24 points, 49-25, with 14:41 to play, yet Lawrence never gave in. Over the next nine minutes, the Vikings would respond with an 18-5 run of their own, slicing the deficit down to 11 points at 54-43 with exactly five minutes remaining.
When the going got tough, Illinois College looked to its senior leaders. Keith and McGinnis combined to score the final 11 IC points in the game, delivering when it was needed and never allowing the team's lead to fall back into single-digits as the clock increasingly worked in the Lady Blues' favor.
"Our senior leadership was outstanding today," said Head Coach
Lora Westling. "Hannah and Maddy took over offensively and
Kate Russow really stepped up again. She had zero turnovers in 35 minutes and took two pivotal charges that allowed us to stay composed through some foul trouble.
Amy Bergstrom looked to be more aggressive which has been key, especially with
Jill Friedrich out."
"We did a poor job of executing our game plan in the first half, but credit to our players for finding a way to get the win on the road," Westling added. "It was not pretty by any means, but we will take it and hopefully get some things worked out by next Saturday."
Keith ended the day with 15 points and 11 rebounds, supplying the Lady Blues with her sixth double-double in the past nine games. Solorio added nine points and seven rebounds. Off the bench, Garde finished with five points.
Illinois College will next be in action on Feb. 14 with a home contest against the Ripon Red Hawks. It will be IC's annual Play for the Cure game, with tip-off scheduled for 1 p.m. at Sherman Gymnasium.
