Lady Blues Rain Threes in Win over Monmouth

Box Score
MONMOUTH, Ill. – The Illinois College women's basketball team went into a drought before halftime to trail Monmouth College at the break, but the Lady Blues shot their way out of it and then some in the second half, pulling away from the Scots for an 84-74 victory on Tuesday night. The Lady Blues moved to 2-0 (1-0 Midwest Conference) with the win, while Monmouth slid to 0-3 (0-1 MWC).

Coming off of a 27-point performance in the season opener against MacMurray, Brielle Greenleaf got her scoring started early. Off of a turnover by Monmouth, Greenleaf stepped into an elbow jumper and gave IC a 2-0 lead. It was the first basket in a hot start to the game for Greenleaf, who made 6-of-7 from the field in the first quarter and had 12 points as the Lady Blues took a 24-18 lead over the Scots after 10 minutes.

The Lady Blues were hot from beyond the arc, hitting their first four attempts. A three from Ashley Hoegger early in the second quarter gave IC a 27-20 lead. Later on, Greenleaf gave IC its first double-digit lead at 34-24 with a trey from the right wing. Monmouth closed out the half on a 13-2 run however, with a floater from Madi Peyton representing the only points for the Lady Blues in the final seven minutes of the half. The Scots took a 37-36 lead into the break.

The offense continued to struggle early in the third quarter, but a transition layup from Greenleaf with three-and-a-half minutes gone finally got Illinois College back on the board, trailing 41-38. Monmouth opened up a 47-40 lead on the Lady Blues, but that's when things started clicking for the Lady Blues. Back-to-back threes from Jaicie Halleman and Grace Yaunches made it 47-46. Then, off a turnover, Yaunches fed Greenleaf for an easy layup to get IC back on top. 

After a steal by Alyssa Garde, Garde nailed another three to make it 51-47. Monmouth responded with one of its own, but so did Yaunches to make it 54-50. Halleman hit two more from distance to end the quarter. Though the Scots rallied with a three just before the buzzer, but the Lady Blues took a 60-53 lead into the fourth quarter.

Both teams started the fourth slowly until Greenleaf scored on a layup. Later, the sophomore followed her own miss and laid it in for two to make it a 66-60 game. The Scots refused to go away and hit a three-pointer to cut the lead in half, but Carly Cameron converted a big three-point play to push the Illinois College advantage back to six, 69-63. As time ticked down in the game, Mickalah York dribbled into the paint and was fouled while connecting on a short jumper. Her three-point play made it 77-70 with less than two minutes remaining, though the Scots once again answered back with a three-pointer to slice the IC lead to 77-73 with 1:34 remaining.

Though Sydney Lett struggled to find the range in the contest, she made one of the biggest buckets of the game. Lett fed Cameron in the post, then immediately cut down the lane to get free for a layup that extended Illinois College's lead to 79-73. As time ticked under a minute, Monmouth turned the ball over against IC's pressure defense and Illinois College sealed the victory at the line.

For the second straight game to start the season, Greenleaf led the Lady Blues with 27 points, this time connecting on 11-of-14 from the floor and adding seven rebounds and five steals. Cameron tied for ninth on Illinois College's all-time single-game steals record by collecting seven on the night. As a team, Illinois College was 11-of-17 from beyond the arc, tying for third in program history for the most made three-pointers in a contest.

In addition to Greenleaf's 27, the Lady Blues had Cameron score in double-figures with 18. Halleman added 12 off the bench and Yaunches contributed nine.

Illinois College travels to take part in the Midwest Challenge this weekend at Illinois Wesleyan University. The Lady Blues will meet the Titans in the opener on Nov. 26 at 3 p.m., then take on either DePauw or Washington University in St. Louis on Nov. 27.