By: A 23-7 lead by the Rams at the end of the first quarter was too much to overcome on Saturday for the Lady Blues, who fell, 73-54.
Box Score
MOUNT VERNON, Iowa – The Illinois College women's basketball trailed Cornell College by 16 points at the end of the first quarter and could not overcome the large deficit, falling to the Rams by a score of 73-54. The Lady Blues drop to 4-12 (3-5 Midwest Conference), while Cornell improves to 10-5 (7-2 MWC).
A 5-0 start to the game by Cornell was partially offset by buckets from
Grace Yaunches and Sydney Himmelman, allowing Illinois College to get within a point halfway through the opening period. The Rams heated up quickly however, tallying 18 points in the final 4:28 of the quarter. In that same stretch of play, the Lady Blues managed only three Shannon Propst free throws in response. Cornell took a 23-7 lead into the second quarter.
The opening minute of the second quarter offered some hope as Yaunches and
Shannen Quehl each scored to make it 23-11, but Cornell retaliated with a 7-0 run and led by as many as 21 points in the first half before entering the locker room with a 39-21 edge.
Illinois College played well in the third quarter, taking what grew to be a 47-25 Cornell lead and cutting it to 49-38 as the quarter ticked down. Yaunches accounted for seven straight points and Katie Elmore tacked on a pair at the line in a 9-0 run, but that was offset by Haley Grana's three-pointer at the buzzer, pushing the Rams back ahead, 52-38, going into the last 10 minutes.
Himmelman had the opening basket of the fourth quarter, but Cornell opened up its largest lead with an 11-0 run to make it 63-40 with less than six minutes to play. The Lady Blues got the deficit back under 20 points in the final minutes with a pair of
Brielle Greenleaf baskets, but with the clock on their side, the Rams had no trouble closing it out.
Yaunches ended with 13 points, while Greenleaf added 12 for the Lady Blues. Quehl ended her day with eight points and 11 rebounds. The Rams were led by 14 points and eight rebounds from Diamond Boyd.
Illinois College returns home to host Kaskaskia College on Jan. 22 at 7:00 p.m.
