JACKSONVILLE, Ill. – The Illinois College women's basketball team was able to fend off a second-half charge from St. Norbert College to come away with a 57-53 win over the Green Knights on Saturday afternoon. After leading by 10 at the half, IC saw St. Norbert come all the way back to take a seven-point lead with less than four minutes to play before closing on a 12-1 run to snatch victory away from the Green Knights. Illinois College moves to 10-11 (6-8 Midwest Conference) with the win.
Illinois College found a way to win despite long scoring droughts in three out of the four quarters. In the first quarter, nearly five minutes elapsed before
Grace Yaunches got the Lady Blues on the board to cut St. Norbert's 4-0 lead in half. Things got rolling for IC from there and a
Carly Cameron three late in the quarter gave IC a 16-10 lead after 10 minutes.
The Lady Blues didn't have any trouble offensively in the second quarter, scoring on their opening possession with a layup by
Micah Huwe. St. Norbert cut the Illinois College lead down to 25-22 with 3:40 to play in the first half, but IC ended the half on a 7-0 run, capped off by three-pointers from Yaunches and
Megan Price.
It took over two minutes for Illinois College to score in the third quarter, by which time St. Norbert had reeled off a 6-0 run. That immediate comeback from the Green Knights led to a quarter which saw the visitors come back to tie and then take the lead at 41-38. A triple from Sarah Chouinard in the final seconds for St. Norbert knotted the game at 44-44 going to the fourth.
A sluggish offensive start for the Lady Blues once again in the final quarter had St. Norbert on the verge of victory, but Illinois College found a way to rally. It took more than five minutes of the fourth quarter for IC to score and the Chouinard three to end the third turned into the start of a 9-0 run that gave the Green Knights a 50-44 advantage. The lead peaked for St. Norbert at 52-45 with 3:41 to play.
The Lady Blues immediately began to chip away at that deficit and jumper rattled home by Price with just over a minute left gave Illinois College the 54-53 lead. After getting a defensive stop, Cameron extended the lead with a tough jumper down low. St. Norbert had a look at a game-tying three-pointer with about 10 seconds to play, but it drew iron.
Lilly Pepper rebounded and hit one of two free throw to clinch it.
Pepper ended with 11 points and 15 rebounds. Yaunches had 10 points and five assists.
A big opportunity awaits on Feb. 12 for the Lady Blues when they travel to Grinnell College. Both IC and Grinnell go into the 7:30 p.m. contest at 6-8 in the MWC, two games back of Knox College for the final spot in the MWC Tournament.
