By: Illinois College and MacMurray combined for 49 fouls on Wednesday night, but 25 made free throws from the Lady Blues helped lift them to an 86-63 victory.
Box Score
JACKSONVILLE, Ill. – The Illinois College women's basketball team came out on top in the 2017-18 season opener on Wednesday night with an 86-63 victory on the road at MacMurray College. Five players ended the night in double-figures for the Lady Blues, with
Shannen Quehl notching a big double-double with 17 points and 21 rebounds in the win.
The year opened with a hard drive to the rim and a layup by
Brielle Greenleaf to put the Lady Blues on top. MacMurray kept the game close with perimeter shooting, but the Lady Blues took the lead at 10-8 when Yaunches found Greenleaf for a baseline jumper and they wouldn't trail again. Yaunches extended the lead with a three-pointer of her own, and layups by
Sydney Lett and Quehl kept IC out in front, 21-17, at the end of the first 10 minutes.
Madi Peyton handled the scoring load early in the second quarter for Illinois College. She had a theft and a breakaway layup for the first bucket of the quarter, then made a floater outside the lane and hit a pair at the stripe to give the Lady Blues a 27-21 lead. Lett connected on a jumper and Yaunches had a breakaway layup to give IC its first double-digit lead at 31-21. The Highlanders wouldn't go quietly and managed to pull back within four points at 32-28 until Greenleaf took a cross-court pass from Peyton and finished at the rim. Quehl followed that up with three free throws and made a layup in the final seconds of the half to give the Lady Blues a 43-36 halftime cushion.
Quehl opened the second half with a putback of a Greenleaf layup. Greenleaf then had five points in a row to give Illinois College a 7-0 start to the third quarter. With the defense digging in and denying good offensive opportunities to MacMurray, IC went into the fourth quarter with a 62-48 lead.
Shannon Propst connected on a baseline jumper to open the fourth quarter and
McKenzie Skaggs had the next bucket as IC pushed its lead to 66-48 in the opening minute of the fourth. The lead stayed comfortably in the 20-point range the rest of the way and ballooned to as much as 28 late in the game. The Lady Blues used the final minutes to debut some new faces as Ronesha Fields, Megan Price, Kourtney Schuetz, Katie Elmore, Kaylee Andrea, Makenze Coulter and Sydney Himmelman all saw their first career action for Illinois College.
Greenleaf ended with a game-high 21 points along with eight rebounds on the night. Quehl had eight of her 21 rebounds on the offensive glass. Her rebound total is the most-ever in a season opener for a Lady Blues player and is tied for 10th-most in a single game in program history. Peyton also had a double-double, ending with 12 points and 10 rebounds. Also finishing in double-figures for IC were Lett and Yaunches with 11 points apiece.
Illinois College is back in action on Nov. 17 with a neutral-site matchup against Westminster College (Mo.) at Greenville University. Tip-off is set for 5 p.m.
