HOFFMAN ESTATES, Ill. — Entering halftime with a double-digit lead, it seemed as if the Illinois women’s basketball team was well on its way to advancing into the second round of the Big Ten Tournament. But that wasn’t the case.
Despite late-game heroics from junior guard Amber Moore and a late 13-0 spurt, No. 6-seeded Illinois (16-13) couldn’t finish off No. 11-seeded Wisconsin (12-18) in a 58-57 loss in the first round of the Big Ten Tournament on Thursday.
“Wisconsin became the most aggressive in the second half,” Illinois head coach Matt Bollant said. “First half I thought we did a great job of weathering the storm with Karisma (Penn) in foul trouble. We just needed to step up and play aggressively in the second half, and we didn’t.”
The old adage goes “basketball is a game of runs.” In the last six minutes of Thursday’s game, Illinois and Wisconsin proved why.
After trailing by its largest deficit of the game at 54-44 with 5:59 remaining, Illinois charged on an 8-0 run behind back-to-back 3-point plays. Sophomore guard Taylor Tuck ignited the Illini run with a 3-pointer to cut the deficit to five points. On the following offensive possession, sophomore guard Ivory Crawford, who led Illinois with 14 points, scored an and-one layup to bring the score within one possession at 54-52 with 3:34 remaining in the contest.
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At the 1:23 mark, Moore, who scored 13 points, received the ball near the left wing and crossed over her defender while pulling up for a jump shot. The junior guard was fouled on the attempt, putting her on the line for two potential game-tying free-throws. Moore knocked the pair and in the process tied that game at 54. After a steal by Crawford on the other end, Illinois brought the ball up looking to wind down the clock before attempting a possible go-ahead shot.
Moore would receive the ball again on the left wing, but instead of pulling up for a two-point shot, she attempted her patented 3-point shot.
Swish.
“It was just confidence,” Moore said. “My teammates were getting me the ball and I was knocking down shots.”
“I just felt like I was breathing life after that shot,” senior guard Adrienne GodBold said. “I was sort of holding my breath on a couple of plays, and when she made that shot I’m like: ‘Oh yeah, we good, we straight.’ I felt good, I felt like I made the shot.”
The 3-pointer capped off a 13-0 Illinois run to give the Illini a 57-54 lead with 42 seconds left. That is when everything that could go wrong, went wrong for Illinois.
Before the ball was even inbounded after Moore’s shot, sophomore guard Alexis Smith committed a foul on freshman guard Tessa Cichy while getting into the press. Cichy would make both of her free throws to cut Illinois’ lead to 57-56 with 42 seconds remaining.
After the senior forward Penn, who sat most of the game with foul trouble, missed a jumper, Wisconsin took a timeout with 10 seconds left in the game.
The play called out of the timeout put the ball in the hands of junior guard Morgan Paige, despite her 3-for-16 shooting in the game. Paige drove fearlessly at first-team Big Ten performer Penn and drew a shooting foul, her fifth and final foul of the game. Paige’s two free throws gave Wisconsin a one-point lead with 3.1 seconds remaining.
After an ill-advised half-court heave by Moore missed at the buzzer as Bollant was trying to call a timeout, Illinois fell to a Wisconsin team it had beaten twice earlier in the season. After holding Wisconsin to 26.1 percent shooting in the first half, Illinois allowed the Badgers to make half of its field-goal attempts in the second half.
“It just didn’t end how we wanted,” Crawford said. “That’s all.”
As a result, Illinois’ NCAA tournament hopes may have ended as well. Before Thursday’s game, ESPN’s Charlie Creme had Illinois as one of his first four teams out. With the loss, the Women’s NIT seems more than likely. Despite the three-game losing streak to end the season, Bollant hasn’t given up on the NCAA tournament.
“Your quality wins is what gets you into the NCAA tournament. We have six wins in the top 50. Bollant said.” “(For) us to finish tied for fifth in the in the conference, to me, we should be in because of the quality wins.”
For now, Illinois can only wait.
Michael can be reached at [email protected] and @m_dubb.
