The Illini (9-1) secured yet another win to their season. This time it was a 70-62 win against the Missouri Tigers (9-3) for their Braggin’ Rights women’s basketball matchup in Columbia, Missouri.
Junior guard Gretchen Dolan started the game off strong with back-to-back 3-point shots to propel Illinois into an early lead against Missouri.
However, the Illini let the Tigers get close. They started off with an 8-point lead early on but slowly lost that as the Tigers clawed closer.
“They competed, and we had a chance to win the game,” said Missouri head coach Kellie Harper. “Going into this game, if you said ‘Hey, it’s a 2-point game with about a minute left,’ I’d have felt pretty good about it.”
After averaging 32 points per game in the first quarter in its last three games, Illinois slowed its performance down tonight. At the end of the first quarter, the Illini led the Tigers 14-10 for a close first 10 minutes.
Get The Daily Illini in your inbox!
Jackson and Parchment continue to shine
Illinois has two breakout freshmen on its team this year. Freshman forward Cearah Parchment and freshman starting point guard Destiny Jackson have had incredible rookie seasons thus far.
Parchment is a consistent scorer, while Jackson can do a mix of scoring and defending. The pair is also recipients of the Big Ten Freshman of the Week award, making Illinois the only school to have two different freshman receive the award.
The duo of freshmen provided yet another game with strong performances. Parchment was fiery and quick when it came to scoring and grabbing rebounds. Jackson, on the other hand, ended the first half with 0 points, but shone defensively.
Jackson was able to grab two rebounds, five assists and two steals during the first half. Her playing style on the court makes it hard to believe she is just a freshman. Jackson plays consistently and is able to minimize her fouls. Against Missouri she had zero fouls. Jackson’s ability to defend against a taller Missouri lineup also highlights her talents early on.
Jackson ended the game with nine points. Five of these 9 points came from free throws, which she shot 5 for 6 on. Jackson also led the Illini in assists Wednesday night with nine.
Parchment, on the other hand, can find herself in foul trouble, but against Missouri, she minimized it to two fouls. She also scored 9 points, which is low for her. She did howeve,r have eight rebounds, two steals, one assist and one block to showcase her versatility.
Dolan on the rise
After inconsistent performances from Dolan earlier in the season, the junior is performing at a veteran level lately. Dolan led the Illini in points at the half after her powerful back-to-back 3-point shots early on.
It’s important that Dolan is stepping up her game to ease some of the scoring pressure off of sophomore forward Berry Wallace. Wallace started off the season with four straight 20-plus point games, but her scoring slowly fell off.
However, Wallace’s teammates are stepping up to the plate, so the Illini don’t have to solely rely on Wallace to score all the buckets. Dolan, along with her teammates, put up a physical fight against the Tigers.
“Illinois played very physical,” said Missouri junior guard Grace Slaughter. “(They’re) one of the more physical teams on the perimeter that we’ve seen.”
Dolan ended the night with 21 points, the most from any player on the court from either side. She is also the only player from either team to play for the full 40 minutes tonight.
Sixth and seventh women
Junior guard Maddie Webber continued her streak of impactful games, and redshirt sophomore center Lety Vasconcelos provided a steady presence defensively.
Webber is the Illini’s first player off the bench for a reason. She was the second-highest scorer for Illinois with 11 points. At Missouri, Webber only went 1 for 5 on her 3-point shots, but she was able to find herself scoring in the paint for her other 8 points.
Vasconcelos had 6 points, three rebounds and one steal in her 19 minutes. Standing at 6-foot-7, Vasconcelos is the Illini’s tallest player, and her height was needed against a tall Tiger team. Missouri’s lineup averages at 6 feet, so Vasconcelos’s size was needed for the Illinois defense.
Webber and Vasconcelo’s efforts both offensively and defensively are what make them the perfect sixth and seventh women for the team. Head coach Shauna Green had them off the bench about halfway through the first quarter, and then on and off for the remainder of the matchup.
Tigers put up a fight
Despite being down 8 points early on, the Tigers crawled up and were within one point of the Illini at times. No matter how far Illinois found itself in the lead, Missouri kept putting up a fight and would get closer and closer.
The biggest way Missouri was able to get close was its 3-point shot and free-throw success. The Tigers shot 32% from three while the Illini were 26.7% from three. Missouri’s streak of shooting 3-point shots early on is a key factor that let it get close to Illinois while trailing.
As for free throws, the Tigers earned 12 points from their free throws with 85.7% success. It is mistakes like missing free throws that left the Tigers trailing.
Missouri capitalized on Illinois’ wishy-washy performance to make it a one-possession game various times throughout the contest. However, the Tigers’ streak of fouls towards the end of the game gave the Illini easy points with free throws.
“We just did not handle the physicality,” Harper said. “A lot of that was on the ball. I thought they got after us a little bit, and our decision-making wasn’t as sharp. We made some ill-advised passes that we just haven’t done in a while.”
Illinois fought a hard battle against Missouri. The Illini’s fast and physical playing style on the court gave them an advantage against the Tigers’ less confident plays.
The Illini had 13 chances to shoot free throws, and 12 of those came from the fourth quarter. In the end, Illinois managed to escape Missouri’s pressure to get Braggin’ Rights. With its win, Illinois secured yet another win at Missouri. The Illini haven’t lost in Columbia since 2017.
@lauram0131
