On Dec. 21, the Illinois women’s basketball team was fresh off an upset loss at home to Illinois State, bringing its record down to a modest 6-5. Five days later, the team received news that would completely turn around the season: guard Adrienne GodBold reached the minimum GPA and would be able to join the squad after being suspended for the fall semester.
Illinois knocked off then-No. 6 Georgia at Assembly Hall the next day in the senior’s first game of the season. With GodBold in the lineup, Illinois finished the regular season winning 10 of its last 17 games to earn a fifth-place tie in the Big Ten. Its 9-7 conference record marks the first time since 2003 that Illinois finished with a record above .500 in Big Ten play.
On Monday, GodBold was named the Big Ten’s Defensive Player of the Year and voted second-team all-Big Ten by the coaches and third-team by the media.
“It means a lot,” GodBold said. “Me personally, I love defense, and it’s been instilled in me since Marshall High School. … To be able to put that on my resume, it’s gonna feel good.”
GodBold received the news via text message as she was leaving her tutor on her way to class, around an hour earlier than everyone else.
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“When I got the information I was smiling from ear to ear,” GodBold said. “I called my mom right away like, ‘Mom, I got it!’”
The honor gives GodBold her second consecutive conference award after winning the Sixth Player of the Year honor last season. The achievements are not lost on GodBold.
“That’s funny because my grandmother called me saying that, too,” GoldBold said of her back-to-back Big Ten awards. “It feels good that I’ve made a foot stamp in the Big Ten with my name and I will be able to look back and say, ‘That’s me, I did that.’ It’s the Big Ten, it’s not easy at all, so to be up there with these top players it feels great.”
GodBold’s defensive statistics are some of the best in Illinois history. The guard averaged 3.4 steals per game in Big Ten play, placing her second in the conference. Her 190 steals ranks ninth in school history even though she missed the first semester. Standing at just 5-foot-11 inches, GodBold finished 10th in the Big Ten in rebounds per game at 7.3 and fourth in offensive rebounding with 3.5 during conference games. Her four double-doubles on the season were the first of her career.
“The coaches admire the energy she plays with. It’s a grinding schedule and the Big Ten is so strong,” Illinois head coach Matt Bollant said. “To come out every day and play with energy, play with fight, and a lot of time she defended (the opponent’s) best guard and could guard 1-5 as Karisma did the same thing. So, both of them could really guard.”
Although Bollant was quick to congratulate GodBold, he also said the team played a role in her award as well.
“I think any individual awards are also a reflection on the team,” Bollant said. “Give credit to the team and the steps we’ve taken as a program as well.”
While Bollant was all smiles about how the voters rewarded GodBold, he said senior forward Karisma Penn, who was voted by the coaches to the second-team and by the media to the first-team, should’ve gotten more recognition.
“I don’t know how with the stats that she had that she’s not on the first-team for both the media and coaches, and you could certainly make a very strong argument for Player of the Year,” Bollant said. “I agree with the fact that the top teams should probably get the Player of the Year, but at the same time, she should be second, third, fourth in the voting, and for her to slip to sixth is, to me, not OK.”
Postseason awards aside, GodBold said she expects her team to shift gears and acquire a new mindset heading into the Big Ten Tournament after losing consecutive games to end the regular season.
“Right now, we’re just trying to regroup,” GodBold said. “With that being said, I think we’ll have a new focus in practice. I noticed with this team, around this time in the season, we tend to have a different approach to everything because it’s all or nothing, win or go home. So with that being said, I think things will be different this week.”
Michael can be reached at [email protected] and @m_dubb.
