JACKSONVILLE, Ill. – The Illinois College women's basketball team won its second straight game on Sunday with a 78-73 victory over Millikin University in the non-conference finale for the Lady Blues. The win lifts IC to 4-3 on the season, while the Big Blue fell to 6-1 with the loss.
Illinois College was at its most dominant in the first quarter, racing out to a 25-16 lead after 10 minutes. It took the Lady Blues nearly two minutes to score, but once they did, they quickly put together an 11-1 run to jump out to an 11-3 edge. Back-to-back threes from
Junie Zirkelbach and
Grace Yaunches then made it 17-5.
Both Yaunches and Zirkelbach made it into double-figures in the first half. Yaunches had 11 at the break and Zirkelbach came off the bench with 10 as Illinois College went to the break with a 41-35 advantage on Millikin.
The Big Blue made their move in the third quarter, rallying out of an eight-point deficit to take the lead at 52-49. Following a block late in the quarter from
Micah Huwe,
Lakeida Nichols went coast-to-coast for a layup that evened the score up at 52-52 heading into the final 10 minutes of play.
Though Millikin had the momentum going into the final quarter, Illinois College was able to stem the tide. The score was tied one final time at 54-54, but a 12-2 run for the Lady Blues followed to make it 66-56 with less than seven minutes to play. In the final minute, the Big Blue quickly put together an 8-0 run to cut IC's lead to 75-73, but Yaunches made one at the line and Millikin missed on a couple opportunities to knot the score up in the final seconds before Zirkelbach clinched it with two free throws.
Yaunches ended with a game-high 21 points and also had five assists. Zirkelbach added 16.
Megan Price chipped in with 12 and
Lilly Pepper had 11 points with nine rebounds.
Midwest Conference play begins on Dec. 4 for Illinois College. The Lady Blues will travel to Monmouth College for a 7:30 p.m. tip-off following the men's contest.
