By: Illinois College played fairly evenly in the second half with Elmhurst College, but the Lady Blues fell behind by 17 points at halftime.
Box Score
CHICAGO, Ill. – The Illinois College women's basketball team couldn't keep up with Elmhurst College in the second quarter, allowing the Bluejays to take a 44-27 lead into the half. Elmhurst held on from there for an 88-68 victory, improving to 2-2 on the season. IC falls to 2-4 overall.
Illinois College got off to a solid start in Sunday's contest, taking an 11-7 lead on five straight points from
Brielle Greenleaf.
Shannen Quehl added an and-one layup to make it a 14-7 game with 5:19 remaining in the opening quarter. Elmhurst rallied back, scoring 10 straight and taking a 19-16 lead after 10 minutes of play. A
Sydney Lett layup was IC's only offense in the final five minutes of the first quarter.
Elmhurst's run extended to 21-2 after the Bluejays began the second quarter with nine unanswered. Down 28-16, Shannon Propst helped the Lady Blues fight back, scoring on a jumper and on a three-pointer. Lett added another layup soon after that, making it a 7-0 run that brought Illinois College to within five at 28-23. The offense again went cold late in the quarter however, and Elmhurst scored 16 of the last 20 points in the first half to take a 44-27 lead into the break.
Action went back and forth throughout most of the second half. A score on one end was answered moments later on the opposite end of the floor. Elmhurst went to the fourth quarter holding a 65-47 edge, and though Illinois College opened the final quarter of play on a 6-0 run with four points from Quehl and two from Propst, the Lady Blues would not get closer than that 12-point margin the rest of the way.
Quehl scored a team-high 19 points, tying for game-high honors with Elmhurst's Kaela Jones, and was named to the North Park Invite All-Tournament Team. Greenleaf added 17 points in the game along with seven rebounds. Lett chipped in with 12 points, five boards and five assists.
Madi Peyton was perfect from the field and the charity stripe, scoring nine points in the game.
Illinois College opens Midwest Conference play with a road trip north this weekend. First up is a Dec. 1 matchup at Lawrence University beginning at 7:30 p.m.
