By: Beloit led by six points with less than eight minutes to play, but Illinois College allowed only three points the rest of the way to pick up the MWC victory.
Box Score JACKSONVILLE, Ill. – Nothing came easy on Saturday for the Illinois College women's basketball team, but behind a tenacious defensive effort and a rapidly-maturing freshman class, the Lady Blues earned a 62-58 win over visiting Beloit College. IC improved to 9-5 (6-3 Midwest Conference) with the win, sending Beloit to 5-10 (3-7 MWC).
Facing the conference's leading scorer in Lana Wieseman, the Lady Blues seemed content to let the senior post player get hers on the offensive end as long as it meant fewer chances for the rest of the Buccaneers. In that regard the Lady Blues were successful. Wieseman ended with 32 points and 17 rebounds, but only Laura Panicali (11 points) joined her in double-figures and no other Beloit player besides her scored more than four points.
Beloit got off to a good start and led, 9-6, after two straight buckets for Wieseman. Illinois College came back with an 8-0 run to take the lead through two straight
Shannen Quehl baskets, followed by a
Jill Friedrich steal and fast break layup for
Brielle Greenleaf and a Quehl steal that led to an
Alyssa Garde fast break layup. The Buccaneers answered with a 7-0 burst to take the lead back, but Illinois College would grab the reins again by the end of the quarter, taking a 20-17 edge into the second.
The Lady Blues were up by three midway through the quarter after Quehl connected on a jumper at the 5:07 mark. Down on the other end, Wieseman swished a three-pointer to start a 10-0 run by the Buccaneers that would give them their largest lead of the game at 33-26 with just over two minutes left in the half.
Hanna Bergkoetter ended the run for IC though, and Greenleaf scored the last five points of the half in the last 90 seconds to send the teams to the break knotted at 33-33.
Beloit would again go up by seven points in the first four minutes of the second half, with Wieseman contributing five of the nine points in an opening 9-2 run. Illinois College would keep it close though, and
Mickalah York brought the Lady Blues back within one on a hustle rebound and putback. A three-point play by Greenleaf followed and
Sydney Lett turned a careless Beloit turnover into two points to make it 49-45 with two minutes to go in the quarter. The Buccaneers would end with six straight points however, taking a 51-49 advantage into the fourth quarter.
The final 10 minutes didn't get off to the best of starts for IC. The Lady Blues didn't score until the 5:21 mark of the frame. Fortunately, a solid defense limited Beloit to only a pair of Wieseman baskets up until that point. Lett ended the drought with a pair at the line and Greenleaf drained a jumper to pull Illinois College back to within two with 3:45 to play. Less than a minute later, Lett stole the ball and drove in to tie the game at 55-55 with three minutes left.
Momentum moved back over to Beloit's side after Greenleaf had a three-point attempt rim out and Panicali connected from downtown on the other end, giving Beloit a 58-55 lead with 2:18 to play. That three-pointer would end up being the final points of the contest for the Buccaneers though. Quehl muscled in for an offensive rebound and a layup with 1:49 remaining and Friedrich was fouled with 1:20 left, making both free throws for a 59-58 lead. After a missed jumper by Beloit's Julia Moll, the Lady Blues worked their possession deep into the shot clock and Friedrich splashed an elbow jumper to make it 61-58 with 33 ticks left on the clock. A Greenleaf free throw with 21 seconds left provided a little bit of breathing room and Beloit missed two three-pointers in the final seconds.
Greenleaf led Illinois College with 17 points on the afternoon. Quehl shot 8-of-11 from the floor to add 16 points and Lett had 11 points to go along with five steals. Friedrich had a team-high five rebounds and scored six points, as did Garde off the bench for the Lady Blues.
IC will be back in action on Jan. 20 with a road contest at Knox College beginning at 7:30 p.m. in Galesburg.
