By: Though down two at halftime, Illinois College put its foot on the gas in the third quarter and cruised to a 79-60 win over Monmouth in the final home game of the 2015-16 season.
Box Score JACKSONVILLE, Ill. – No one ever said sports were fair, but at least the Illinois College women's basketball team got to show what it would have looked like if it had been running at full speed this entire season. With
Melissa Solorio back in uniform for the first time since Dec. 30, the Lady Blues pulled away from Monmouth College for a 79-60 win on Senior Night at Sherman Gymnasium on Wednesday. IC had four players in double-figures, including Solorio with 14 in her return to action. The Lady Blues moved to 11-11 (8-9 Midwest Conference) with the win, while the Scots fell to 4-18 (3-14 MWC).
In the final home games for
Hanna Bergkoetter and
Jill Friedrich, Illinois College showed a level of offensive potency that had been missing since Solorio fell victim to an injury midway through the year. The Lady Blues forced 27 turnovers in the contest and turned that into 28 points, shooting better than 51 percent in the second half after trailing by two at the break.
In the first quarter, it appeared that Illinois College might have a cakewalk on its hands. With the game knotted at 5-5, the Lady Blues went on a 10-0 run highlighted by five immediate points off the bench from Solorio and a
Jaicie Halleman three to cap it. Halleman and
Sydney Lett added points down the stretch to give IC a 20-11 lead after 10 minutes.
It turned into a totally different story in the second quarter for the Lady Blues however. After playing even with Monmouth for the first four minutes, IC fell behind for the first time thanks to an 11-0 run from the Scots that made it 29-27 with less than three minutes until the break. Friedrich put the Lady Blues back ahead with a triple, but a Kelsey Walsberg jumper in the final minute gave Monmouth a 34-32 halftime lead.
The Scots stretched the lead to three early on in the third quarter, but Friedrich would lead a comeback that was spurred on by the defense and a number of fast break buckets. Though it was still only a 42-41 lead for the Lady Blues after a Katie Houston layup with 3:23 left in the quarter, Friedrich drilled a corner trey off of an
Alyssa Garde pass to increase the margin to four points and the senior later picked the pocket of Allison Todd and went coast-to-coast for the first of two straight layups. Lett added a three from the top of the key just before the horn to give IC a 55-45 edge going into the final quarter of play.
Monmouth got the opening basket of the fourth quarter with only 10 seconds gone, but Illinois College reeled off 10 in a row after that to open up a 65-47 cushion. Solorio added a steal and fast break layup soon thereafter and the lead reached 20 points for the first time on a
Shannen Quehl three-point play with 3:49 left. It was all decided at that point and Head Coach
Lora Westling was able to pull her two seniors off the court around the two-minute mark to receive a well-deserved ovation for their time with the Lady Blues.
In her final home game, Friedrich ended with a team-high 16 points along with four assists and three steals. Solorio added 14 points on 6-of-8 shooting from the floor and had five steals. Lett had 14 points and another four steals. The other IC player in double-figures was
Brielle Greenleaf, who ended with 13 points. Bergkoetter tied for the team lead with six rebounds.
Illinois College will close out the 2015-16 season on Feb. 20 with a 3 p.m. matchup on the road against Grinnell College.
