The first three contests of Matt Bollant’s career came easy.

With margin of victories of 52, 91 and 32 in its first three contests respectively, the Illinois women’s basketball team was cruising. That is, until Bradley came to Assembly Hall.

On Thursday, Bradley headed to Champaign and upset the Illini 83-77. Five players had double-digit scoring outings in an all-around effort for the Braves, led by 15 points and 12 rebounds from junior guard Catie O’Leary. Bradley led throughout the game and had a 10-point lead in the second half.

Despite beating Missouri Valley Conference foe Evansville by 32 in its previous game, Illinois failed to repeat the same success against fellow MVC opponent Bradley.

After jumping out to a 7-2 advantage to begin the game, Bradley never looked back. The first half had almost opposite results for Bradley and the Illini. As Bradley shot 7-for-8 on 3-pointers and 62.1 percent from the field, Illinois managed to shoot 2-for-14 on 3-pointers while shooting only 42.2 percent during the first half. Bradley led 48-43 at halftime.

The second half was just as frustrating for the Illini. Although Bradley shot 0-for-10 from behind the 3-point arc in the second half, the Braves made up those points in the large free-throw disparity. Bradley shot 24 free throw attempts in the game, 18 of those coming in the second half alone. The Illini managed to get to the line only eight times after easily drawing fouls in its previous contests. The foul disparity led to outraged reactions from the fans and bench throughout the contest. Associate head coach Mike Divilbiss even received a technical foul during the first half after arguing Taylor Tuck’s flagrant foul call.

Illini head coach Matt Bollant was frustrated with his team’s effort.

“(I’m) just disappointed in what we try to do,” Bollant said. “We want to be the most aggressive team, we want to have a team that fights and we didn’t start the game that way and didn’t play most of the game that way. The most aggressive team gets to the foul line. We let them get going early. We just didn’t come with a lot of aggression and a lot of fight.”

Junior guard Amber Moore could never get her shot going, only making 2-of-10 3-point attempts. Despite struggling to score, Moore said she will not change her approach.

“It’s just some days you’re not going to make all the shots, but I’m not going to stop shooting. That would be selfish of me,” Moore said. “I just tried to keep my head in the game, play defense, bring other aspects to the game.”

Moore attributed poor communication as a reason for the loss.

“I just think we didn’t talk on defense or on offense,” Moore said. “When we have energy on the court, we’re a better team, and we didn’t do that tonight.”

Senior forward Karisma Penn, who led the Illini with 29 points and 16 rebounds, also noticed the team’s lack of communication.

“Yeah, I agree with Amber,” Penn said. “Right from the tip-off, the starters didn’t do a good job of having a lot of energy. It starts with us. We can’t come out with a lackluster effort ‘cause we gave Bradley life. “

Despite making a game-high 14 field goals, Penn was thinking more about her 13 misses.

“Looking at what I actually did shooting from the field, I legit think I could have made about eight of those shots I missed inside,” Penn said. “That’s scary realizing I left all those points up there on the board because those points could have made a difference, and it just sucks now ‘cause we lost.”

Bollant blamed the loss more on defensive play than a poor offensive showing, even with his team shooting 12.5 percent from beyond the arc.

“Even when we don’t make threes, defense could show up every night, rebounding could show up every night, and our defense didn’t show up,” Bollant said. “We gave up 48 points in the first half, our defense didn’t show up, you have to have that every night.”

The loss wasn’t the only bad news for the Illini. Early in the second half, junior forward Kersten Magrum suffered a left shoulder injury and did not return to action. The severity of the injury has yet to be determined.