Illini women’s basketball returns to Champaign
By Claire O'Brien, Staff Writer
July 10, 2020
As Illinois moves into Phase 4 of COVID-19 recovery, the Illini teams have begun to make their way back to campus, and the women’s basketball team has started to ease into practice over the last two weeks. Head coach Nancy Fahey said the team has been communicating over the last several months via Z...
Merritt, Skeete prepare for new roles with Illini
By Claire O'Brien, Staff Writer
June 30, 2020
In her three years at the University of Illinois, women’s basketball head coach Nancy Fahey worked with the same assistants that were there when she first came to Champaign. Once this past season wrapped up, Fahey changed up the coaching staff for the first time in her tenure at Illinois. Fahey relieved form...
Best Illini uniforms: Blue jerseys top 2019-2020 selections
By Claire O'Brien, Staff Writer
May 7, 2020
Editors note: In a previous version of this article, the images shown were the women's volleyball uniforms and not the women's basketball uniforms. The Daily Illini regrets this error. College teams often switch up jerseys. Sometimes, the teams get creative with designs, like Notre Dame’s lime gre...
Team of the century: Illini women’s basketball go dancing in 2003
By Claire O, Staff Writer
May 2, 2020
When the Illinois women’s basketball team last made the NCAA tournament, the iPhone was still four years away from being released to the public. The year was 2003, and the team went to the WNIT quarterfinals the year before, ending the season on a loss to Big Ten rival Michigan State at Assembly Ha...
All-time starting five honors women’s hoops stars of past
By Nithin Reddy, Staff Writer
April 22, 2020
The Illinois women’s basketball team has struggled over the last several seasons. However, the program has had its success in the past in large part because Illinois has had some great players in their history. Here are Illinois’s all-time starting five. G Jenny Johnson Jenny Johnson was a four...
Illinois hires another Marquette coach
By Claire O, Staff Writer
April 16, 2020
Illinois women’s basketball head coach Nancy Fahey has hired a second Marquette coach, Vernette Skeete, this offseason after the team announced the hire of Scott Merritt, a former Marquette staffer on March 26. Fahey, who was hired in 2017 and had not made many coaching changes to begin her tenure a...
Illinois’ leading scorer transfers to North Carolina
By Nithin Reddy, Staff Writer
April 4, 2020
Former Illinois women’s basketball player Petra Holešínská officially announced via her Instagram and Twitter that she will transfer to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The redshirt junior guard previously announced on March 11 that she would be leaving Illinois but was still in...
Illini of the season: Bright spots from a tough year
By Nithin Reddy, Staff Writer
April 2, 2020
The Illinois women’s basketball team once again struggled. For the seventh straight year, the Illini failed to reach .500 on the season, and Illinois won just two games in conference play. With that said, the Illini had some great individual performances this season. MVP: Petra Holešínská With Pe...
Illini women’s basketball hires new assistant coach
By Claire O'Brien, Staff Writer
March 31, 2020
Illinois women’s basketball head coach Nancy Fahey hired a new assistant coach, Scott Merritt, last week. Merritt replaced LaKale Malone, who’d been coaching at Illinois since 2012. Malone has not been introduced as a coach at another school yet. Merritt was a starter at Marquette in 2003, per Illino...
Holešínská announces transfer from Illinois
By Nithin Reddy, Staff Writer
March 15, 2020
Petra Holešínská has announced she is transferring from the Illinois women's basketball program. The redshirt junior guard announced her decision on Wednesday via her personal Instagram and Twitter account. In her tweet, Holešínská thanked the University for her four years. “(The University) tur...
Illini start strong, wither in Big Ten play
By Claire O'Brien, Staff Writer
March 14, 2020
The women’s basketball team’s season came to a close March 4 at the Big Ten tournament. The Illini bounced out of the tournament with a 71-55 loss to the Wisconsin Badgers. In a season riddled with Big Ten struggles and team injuries, there were some high points. Illinois began the season on a positiv...
NCAA announces March Madness basketball tournament cancellation
By Gabby Hajduk, Staff Writer
March 12, 2020
The NCAA officially canceled both Division I men’s and women’s 2020 basketball tournaments. NCAA President Mark Emmert and the Board of Governors announced the cancellation in a statement on Thursday afternoon. The NCAA sites the ongoing COVID-19 public health threat as its cause for the cancell...
