By: Though the second half turned into a grind, Illinois College built a 10-point halftime lead and held on to defeat Jennifer McCormick’s former team on Saturday.
Box Score
JACKSONVILLE, Ill. – The Illinois College women's basketball team got back to its winning ways on Saturday afternoon, defeating Beloit College by a score of 56-41. On a day when both offenses struggled, 20 points from
Grace Yaunches helped put the Lady Blues over the top. Illinois College retains its tie for second place in the Midwest Conference, improving to 8-3 (5-1 MWC) while Beloit drops to 2-9 (0-6 MWC).
Beloit started the game strong and Illinois College spent much of the first quarter in catch-up mode against the Buccaneers. A layup and two free throws from
Carly Cameron put the Lady Blues temporarily ahead, 10-9, with 3:34 left in the quarter, but a quick burst from Beloit on a three-pointer from Laura Panicali and a layup inside from Jaylan Dunn gave the Bucs their largest lead of the game, 14-10, less than a minute later. Two baskets from Cameron sandwiched a layup from
Mickalah York in the last three minutes of the quarter however, and IC took a 16-14 lead after one quarter of play.
The run reached 8-0 after Yaunches started the second quarter with a strong drive and finish, upping the Illinois College lead to 18-14. Beloit came back as the IC offense began to falter in the middle of the second quarter, and a layup by Kelsey Horvath gave the Buccaneers a 22-21 lead with 4:33 left in the first half. But after
Shannen Quehl gave the Lady Blues the lead back with two free throws, Yaunches followed with four straight points and
Brielle Greenleaf would account for the final five points of the first half as Illinois College took a 34-24 lead into halftime.
A Yaunches three-pointer gave the Lady Blues a 12-point lead, 42-30, with 3:18 remaining in the third, but Beloit scored six unanswered after that, cutting the Illinois College lead in half at 42-36. With just over a minute remaining in the third,
Sydney Lett hit a mid-range jumper from the wing, giving the Lady Blues a 44-36 cushion going into the final quarter of play.
Both teams put two points on the board in the opening minute of the fourth quarter before both offenses went silent for more than four minutes.
Madi Peyton finally stopped the drought by stepping into a passing lane for a steal and then getting fouled on her fast-break layup attempt. She made one of two and
Melissa Solorio followed the next time down the floor with a second-chance layup to push the lead back into double-figures. With just over a minute remaining and IC ahead, 49-40, Solorio sealed the win with an old-fashioned three-point play and the Lady Blues iced it at the free-throw line.
Yaunches was the only player to reach double-figures in the scoring column for IC, but Cameron added nine points and eight rebounds. Greenleaf had eight points, three boards, three assists and three steals and York also stuffed the stat line with two points, six rebounds (five on the offensive end of the floor), four steals and three assists.
Illinois College will next travel north to take on St. Norbert College on Jan. 13 at 5:30 p.m. On Dec. 3, the Lady Blues snapped the 30-game winning streak that the Green Knights had against MWC opponents. With St. Norbert's basketball arena under construction, Friday night's game will be played at the Phoenix Sports Center on the campus of Wisconsin-Green Bay.
