By: Down five after the first quarter, Illinois College came back to lead by two at halftime and pulled away in the second half for a 76-63 win.
Box Score
JACKSONVILLE, Ill. – The Illinois College women's basketball team came back from an early deficit and defeated MacMurray College on Wednesday night in the season opener for both teams.
Brielle Greenleaf went off for a career-high 27 points on 10-of-13 shooting to lift the Lady Blues to a 76-63 victory over the Highlanders and give Head Coach
Jennifer McCormick the victory in her debut at IC.
Greenleaf netted seven of the first nine points for the Lady Blues in the contest and her three-pointer with less than three minutes gone in the game put Illinois College on top, 9-5. The MacMurray press began to pay dividends as the quarter went along however, and a Liz Kuremmelbein three-pointer at the 1:18 mark gave the Highlanders a 19-13 lead.
Mickalah York hit one of two at the line to make it a 19-14 game at the end of the first quarter.
MacMurray stretched the lead to 23-14 to begin the second quarter before Greenleaf scored off of an
Alyssa Garde feed to finally break IC's scoring drought.
Madi Peyton then immediately had an impact off the bench by draining the first shot of her college career and making it 23-19. The Highlanders didn't go away easily and still led, 30-25, midway through the quarter until a 7-0 run by the Lady Blues put them on top, 32-30. In the final seconds of the quarter,
Grace Yaunches stole the ball in the MacMurray backcourt and laid it in just before the half to give Illinois College a 36-34 edge at the break.
A three-pointer by Karlie Davis with less than six minutes left in the third quarter gave MacMurray a 39-38 lead, but down on the other end, Garde made a layup to give Illinois College a 40-39 lead and the Lady Blues would never trail again. Following the layup, Garde made two free throws and baskets by Greenleaf and
Sydney Lett upped the IC advantage to 46-39. Late in the quarter, MacMurray connected on a three-pointer to make it 46-42, but the Lady Blues closed on a 7-0 run that included four points from
Jaicie Halleman.
Yaunches extended the Illinois College run with a basket to start the fourth quarter before Andie Marvel made a three-pointer to finally get MacMurray back in the scoring column at 55-45. The IC lead never dipped back into single-digits the rest of the way however, and it reached 16 before a Highlander three-pointer at the final buzzer.
In addition to her 27 points, Greenleaf tacked on three rebounds, three assists and two steals on the night.
Carly Cameron notched 12 points, six rebounds, three assists, two blocks and two steals in only 22 minutes of action in her collegiate debut. Garde also reached double-figures for the Lady Blues with 11 points, along with five assists and three steals. Off the bench, Yaunches chipped in nine points and Halleman added five. The Highlanders were led by 12 points from Destyne Powell.
Illinois College will now jump briefly into Midwest Conference play with a road trip to Monmouth College on Nov. 22. Tip-off with the Scots is set for 5:30 p.m.
