Illinois bounced back against UC Riverside on Sunday afternoon to end their four-game home stand taking a 86-82 win. 

After a disappointing performance against SIU Edwardsville, the Illini turned things around, improving on turnovers, rebounds and effort on the court.  

Immediately from Erika Porter’s lay up and first points of the game, UC Riverside had already established a high press in order to force a turnover. 

Despite the press, the Illini were able to weave themselves through for some quick passing and combination play to set themselves up to lead, going into the first break 18-14. 

In the second quarter, it was the best ten minutes the Illinois have played so far. Just one turnover and eight rebounds put them in a comfortable spot on the court. 

Adalia McKenzie stepped it up a notch and tallied the first offensive rebounds for the Illini along with points of own. Her aggressiveness on the ball got her in some good places on the court to get some jumpers and get her on the free throw line. 

By the halfway minute mark of the second quarter, the Highlanders were trailing the Illini just by one point, and it looked like they were going to take over the game. However, with three minutes left, the scoring was all Illinois.

An all-round contribution from the team set them up on a 14-0 run going into the break. The Illini looked solid, comfortable and found their rhythm on the court to get them ahead 43-30. 

However, the Highlanders are known as comeback team, and in the second half, they did just that. One of the biggest things about UC Riverside’s game was to hit threes with Jada Holland, Keilanei Cooper and Olivia West being the heavy hitters. 

In the third and fourth quarters, the threes plus the offensive production from Cooper led them to outsourcing the Illini with 23 and 29 points made. 

Come the last quarter of the game, the Highlanders were just down by eight points and were still in it to potentially give Illinois another loss. 

However, they were plagued with foul after foul in the dying seconds of the game, forcing free throws for Illinois to extend their lead. 

All-around, the Illini had many contributors with Jada Peebles scoring 17 points, Sara Anastasieska getting 16 points, 6 rebounds and five assists and Aaliyah Nye hitting five of her six three pointers and racking in 15 points and six rebounds. 

After four quarters, the Illini took home the win and will look ahead for their first games on road at the Daytona Beach Invitational. 

@AngelleCortes

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