Things were shaken up at the women’s basketball Orange and Blue Scrimmage on Tuesday night.

Instead of the team playing an intrasquad game like the program has traditionally done, the Illini women squared off against their all-male scout team in a competitive game.

Although the women dropped the game 71-69, Illinois head coach Theresa Grentz said she saw a lot of good things.

“I like the way they looked for each other tonight,” Grentz said. “We executed our offense nicely at times tonight.”

The men’s scout team held a 40-33 lead at halftime, but the Illini went on an 11-0 run to the tie the contest at 44 with 16 minutes remaining in the game.

The game went back and forth until the closing seconds. With the scout team holding a three point lead, senior forward Tiffanie Guthrie had a couple good looks to tie the game, but none were able to fall.

With the new scrimmage format of playing the scout team, the Illini feel they have seen what they can do against a team that is similar in talent with the competition they will see this season.

“The guys are a lot faster than a women’s basketball team,” said sophomore forward Erin Wigley. “They are also bigger and stronger than them too. They did their homework and came out with some plays and gave us a good game. I really wanted to beat them tonight.”

Guthrie led the way for the Illini, scoring 18 points in the contest, including four three-pointers.

Wigley pitched in 14 points and pulled down eight rebounds for the Illini. Junior forward/center Brittney Daugherty rounded out the Illini, scoring 10 points.

Wigley said it felt good to get back on the court.

“It was nice to get back in the main gym in front of some fans,” she said. “It was exciting because I thought we played pretty well for our first time out. We hung in there with the guys pretty well.”

The Illini got a big scare with 12:18 remaining in the game when senior co-captain Jer‚ Issenmann stepped in front of a scout team player to take a charge. He crashed into Issenmann, causing her to hit her head on the way down. Play was stopped for several minutes, and Assembly Hall was quiet while the medical staff attended to Issenmann.

She was taken to the hospital for tests and it was reported that she had a concussion. She is expected to fully recover.

Grentz said Issenmann going down took the wind out of the team’s sails a little bit.

“After Jer‚ went down, we were a little tentative,” Grentz said. “I give Jer‚ credit though; she stood in there and took the charge against one of the bigger, tougher guys on the team.”

Although there were a lot of positives, the Illini still have some work to do.

“We still need to work on defense and boxing out for rebounds,” Guthrie said. “We could improve on that part of our game.”

Grentz said she is concerned with the team’s conditioning. She said the team’s fitness will need to improve as the season begins.

The Illini are scheduled to play an exhibition game on Sunday, Nov. 7 at 2 p.m. at the Assembly Hall against BK Poprad from Slovakia.