After the Illinois women’s basketball team lost to Bradley on Thursday, head coach Matt Bollant expressed concern with two of Illinois’ weaknesses: rebounding and allowing free throws.
One game later, the problems that plagued the Illini against the Braves persisted. Illinois was out-rebounded by a 50-37 margin and allowed 17 more free throws than it shot against Cleveland State on Sunday.
But sophomore guard Ivory Crawford helped Illinois overcome its weaknesses and take down Cleveland State by a score of 83-64. Crawford set her career-high in points with 32 on 11-for-14 shooting against the Vikings. She set her previous career-high at 18 against Bradley on Thursday. It was the most points recorded by an Illini player since then-sophomore and current senior Karisma Penn scored 33 in 2010.
Sophomore point guard Alexis Smith also set a career-high with 13 assists against Cleveland State.
Junior Amber Moore recorded a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds. Moore, who normally plays on the wing, was forced to play forward at some points because of frontcourt foul trouble.
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The Illini were down to a frontcourt rotation of Penn, freshman McKenzie Piper and sophomore Nia Oden with the injury of junior Kersten Magrum. Magrum dislocated her shoulder against Bradley on Thursday and is expected to be out for two weeks.
Penn recorded 17 points, five rebounds, five assists, four blocks and three assists.
Piper made her first career start because of Magrum’s injury, but she was limited because of foul trouble. Piper recorded her fourth foul just two minutes into the second half, and she fouled out with 11:26 left in the game, playing only 12 minutes. Oden fouled out with 8:55 left after playing 12 minutes.
After Illinois shot out to a 15-0 lead in the first five minutes, Cleveland State went on a 20-7 run to cut Illinois’ lead to 22-20 with 7:52 remaining in the first half. The Illini then went on a 7-0 run and extended their lead to 44-30 at the break.
Illinois increased its lead to 22 points with 13:52 left in the second half, but the lead was cut to 10 points with 5:36 remaining. Two clutch 3-pointers by Moore and Crawford held off the Cleveland State offensive.
At halftime, Illinois honored members of the Illini women’s basketball family, including players and coaches of the 1982 team that went to the NCAA tournament for the first time in school history. The team was celebrating its 30th year anniversary of the tournament bid.
The Illini will head to the Bahamas on Tuesday for the Junkanoo Jam. The two-day tournament starts Friday. Illinois plays Tulsa on Friday and either Loyola Marymount or Iowa State on Saturday.
Johnathan can be reached at [email protected] or @jhett93.
