By: Career highs from freshmen Mallory Battefeld and Shannen Quehl told only part of the story for the Lady Blues on Saturday afternoon.
Box Score JACKSONVILLE, Ill. – The Illinois College women's basketball team shot 51 percent from the floor, 57 percent from downtown and 84 percent from the free throw line to notch a 75-64 win over Carroll University on Saturday afternoon at Sherman Gymnasium. The Lady Blues put four players in double-figures, including new career highs from
Mallory Battefeld and
Shannen Quehl. IC goes to 7-4 (4-2 Midwest Conference) with the win, while the Pioneers fall to 4-6 (3-2 MWC).
The pace of the game was established during a frenetic first quarter that ended with the Lady Blues ahead, 21-17. A
Brielle Greenleaf steal led to a fast break layup by
Jill Friedrich for the first bucket of the game and Greenleaf would later knock down a three-pointer to give IC a 7-2 lead. The Pioneers came back to take a 12-11 advantage, but Friedrich hit a three-pointer from the corner and
Jaicie Halleman connected on a rainbow triple in the final minute to give the Lady Blues a four-point lead through 10 minutes of action.
The Pioneers made a push behind leading scorer Malory Christenson and Brittany Groer early on in the second quarter, taking a 25-23 lead after a Christenson three-point play. Christenson would pick up her second foul of the game midway through the quarter however, and IC embarked on an 11-0 run to go up by a score of 34-25. Battefeld had the tying basket to make it 25-25 and
Alyssa Garde had four points in a row to give the Lady Blues a lead they wouldn't give up the rest of the way.
Mickalah York increased IC's lead to five points and Battefeld scored twice in a row to boost the margin to 34-25. The freshman made one last field goal in the final 30 seconds to make it 39-30 at halftime.
Friedrich started off the third quarter with an elbow jumper to up IC's lead to 11 points, but Carroll came back on a 6-0 run to momentarily pull within five points. On the next trip down the floor, Greenleaf was fouled by Christenson and made both free throws, sending the Carroll senior back to the bench with her third foul. Those free throws were the beginning of another 11-0 run, this time pushing the lead to 52-36 after a Greenleaf three-point play.
Sydney Lett kept the Lady Blues up by 16 going into the fourth quarter with a running three-pointer at the horn, making it 59-43 after three.
The lead grew to 19 in the first minute of the fourth quarter after a Quehl putback layup. Carroll needed less than 90 seconds to go on an 8-0 run though, slicing Illinois College's lead back to 11. Needing an answer, Friedrich made two free throws and then scored a layup late in the shot clock to push the Lady Blues back in front by 15. With time ticking away, the Pioneers got as close as eight points, but missed two opportunities to make it a five-point game and Illinois College made its free throws down the stretch to seal the win.
Greenleaf led the Lady Blues with 16 points, making all seven of her free throws in the process. Friedrich added 15 points and seven rebounds, while Battefeld came off the bench to shoot 6-of-8 and score 14 points. Quehl added 12 points, also on 6-of-8 shooting from the field.
Illinois College will look for its third win in a row on Jan. 6 when the Lady Blues travel to take on Monmouth College at 7 p.m.
