JACKSONVILLE, Ill. – The Illinois College women's basketball team received 33 bench points on Thursday night, but a cold shooting night overall for the Lady Blues resulted in a 68-55 loss to Cornell College. The defeat drops IC to 9-13 (5-10 Midwest Conference).
IC opened the scoring with a
Megan Price three-pointer, but Cornell came back with a 12-0 run to take a lead early on that the Lady Blues would never get back. Down 17-7 at one point, Illinois College came back at the end of the quarter with
Krista Bass scoring back-to-back buckets to slice Cornell's advantage to 19-14 after one.
The Rams opened the second quarter with a 6-0 run to once again go up by double-digits, but
Grace Yaunches ended that run with a three-pointer and the play of her and Bass helped the Lady Blues shrink the deficit to 31-27 by halftime.
After not attempting a shot in the first half,
Sydney Lett scored IC's first four points of the third quarter to keep the Lady Blues in it. Later on, Yaunches drove the lane and converted on an and-one layup to pull Illinois College within a single point, 39-38. That would be as close as it would get though, as Cornell rode a wave of second-chance points to go back up by six, 45-39, after the third quarter.
The fourth quarter belonged to Cornell's Bella Gonzalez. With the Rams clinging to a 45-42 edge, she drove and scored with one second left on the shot clock, then knocked down a spot-up three-pointer after an Illinois College turnover. She capped a personal 7-0 run with two from the foul line to make it 52-42. Though the Lady Blues would work to get back within five points, Gonzalez hit another triple with just over two minutes left to put the Rams back up by nine, essentially sealing the victory.
Two bright spots offensively for Illinois College were Yaunches with 16 points and Bass with 12 points. The only IC starter to end in double-figures for the night was
Brielle Greenleaf as the senior registered a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds. Gonzalez finished with 21 points and 14 rebounds.
The Lady Blues travel for a road game at Lake Forest College on Feb. 9 starting at 1 p.m.
