JACKSONVILLE, Ill. – Aurora used a run late in the fourth quarter to hand Illinois College an 82-76 defeat in a non-conference women's basketball game Tuesday at Sherman Gymnasium.
The loss snapped the Lady Blues winning streak at three and moved their record back to .500 at 6-6. The Spartans improved to 8-2 overall.
Kendra Bass led IC with a game-high 24 points.
Maya Smith added 13 points and seven rebounds while
Sarra Faust contributed 10 points.
Jayln Patterson had eight rebounds and
Ashlyn Wightman seven.
The Lady Blues came roaring out the gate, jumping to an early 9-2 lead. Aurora then answered by reeling off a 15-0 run to take a 17-9 advantage, a lead it wouldn't relinquish for the remainder of the half. The Spartans' lead grew to as much as 16 at 35-19 with 6:32 to play in the second quarter before IC got back into the contest and cut the advantage to 44-35 at halftime.Â
Like the first half, the Lady Blues came out strong to start the second half and were able to take the lead back at 52-50 after a Smith layup with 5:22 left in the third quarter. IC's
Gracie Kizer hit a free throw to give the Lady Blues a 55-54 lead with 4:05 left in the third but after Aurora's Kylie Fischbach answered with a layup 26 seconds later, the Dragons would never trail again and moved their lead to as much as 10 before IC made one last push.
The Lady Blues got within 73-71 with 2:13 to go but could not close the gap and fell for the first time in four contests.
IC returns to action on December 30th when it hosts Eureka College. Tip-off at Sherman Gymnasium is set for 1:00 p.m.
