By: The Tigers led by 12 after the first quarter and were comfortably ahead most of the way in a 72-55 win over Illinois College.
Box Score
BLOOMINGTON, Ill. – Playing a team receiving votes in the NCAA Division III Top 25 for a second day in a row, the Illinois College women's basketball team fell to DePauw University by a score of 72-55 on Sunday afternoon at the Midwest Challenge. The Lady Blues dropped to 2-2 on the season.
Brielle Greenleaf opened the scoring in the contest by canning a jumper on the first possession of the game, but Maya Howard connected on a three-pointer down on the other end of the court and DePauw would lead from thereon. Claire Ryan and Sydney Kopp scored as part of an 8-0 run before
Alyssa Garde made it an 8-4 game three minutes in with a layup. The Tigers extended their advantage from there and led 21-9 at the end of the quarter.
DePauw and Illinois College played evenly throughout much of the second quarter, but a brief flurry from the Tigers extended them out to a 39-20 lead with less than two minutes remaining in the first half. Greenleaf knocked down a pair of free throws and Garde made a three-pointer in the final minute, but Paige Littrell nabbed an offensive rebound and laid it in just before the buzzer sounded to give DePauw a 41-25 lead at halftime.
Illinois College began to make a dent in the DePauw lead for much of the third quarter and a
Carly Cameron free throw pulled IC to within 12 points at 46-34 with 3:10 remaining. DePauw answered back with a 7-0 spurt that lasted over two minutes however, and the Tigers took a 55-37 edge into the final quarter.
The Tigers pulled ahead by 20 points in the final 10 minutes and the advantage hovered in that range the rest of the way. In the final minute of the game,
Bailey Paskach had four points to bring the Lady Blues to within the final margin of 17 points.
Greenleaf was the leading scorer in the game for Illinois College with 18 points. The sophomore added a game-high four steals. Garde was the only other player in double-figures for the Lady Blues, finishing with 12. Freshmen
Grace Yaunches and Cameron each ended with six.
Illinois College returns to Midwest Conference play next weekend with a pair of home games at Sherman Gymnasium. The Lady Blues first take on Lawrence University on Dec. 2 beginning at 5:30 p.m. IC will then match up with St. Norbert College at 1 p.m. on Dec. 3.
