After kicking off their year with a solid 2-0 start, it seemed as though Illinois women’s basketball was trending in the right direction. New faces, such as Kendall Bostic, were filling in the gaps left by transfers and graduates.

However, when Illinois welcomed SIU Edwardsville to the State Farm Center, they received a massive setback in what is truly another rebuilding season.

The Illini lost by a score of 71-62 against the Cougars, an embarrassing result for a team of Illinois’ stature. After jumping out to a seven-point-lead at the end of the first quarter, momentum completely shifted in the way of SIU Edwardsville. 

During the third quarter, Illinois found themselves down by 13 points, a hole they could not dig themselves out of. Despite a furious comeback in the fourth quarter to bring it to within a one possession game, the Illini could not seal the deal, resulting in the nine point loss. During this comeback, Illinois was on fire from the field, knocking down 7-10 shots. 

Quite possibly the only bright spot of Thursday’s action came from sophomore guard Aaliyah Nye. The East Lansing native has been no stranger to the spotlight so far this year, as she began the season with a stellar 23-point performance in the win against North Carolina Central.

Against SIU Edwardsville, Nye put up 17 points on 6-11 shooting (3-6 from the three-point line) along with three rebounds and two steals. Nye was one of two Illini players to end up in double digit scoring, as guard De’Myla Brown scored 11.  

An emotional Nye was devastated about Illinois’ result after the game and knew the team had the ability to escape with a victory after playing poorly throughout most of the 40 minutes. 

“I’m mad because we should have given it our all in the beginning and not just in the first two quarters,” Nye said. “We thought that this is another low division one school that we could just beat, as you can see that didn’t happen.

When asked about what her team needed to improve on to see different results in the future, Nye had a laundry list of ideas for the Illini.

“I think it was everything,” Nye said. “We missed layups, our free throws, rebounding, boxing out, hustling and giving effort in all four quarters. Yeah, we missed a lot of everything tonight.”

It was no surprise that head coach Nancy Fahey was just as disappointed as Nye after the final buzzer on Thursday. Fahey knows everyone involved in the program can bring more to the table, including herself. 

“We’re all probably going to take a serious look in the mirror tomorrow,” Fahey said. “That includes the coaching staff and that includes the players. I have to reflect on how to make sure my team plays on another level of intensity, which we didn’t do today.”

Illinois will finish off their four-game home stand against UC Riverside on Sunday. Tipoff at the State Farm Center is set for 2 p.m., and the game will be streamed on B1G+.

@WillPayne33

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