Memories are made in March in college basketball. With the Illinois women’s basketball team facing a three-point deficit at halftime, head coach Matt Bollant told his players to go out and make a memory.

“Here’s a chance to make a memory,” Bollant told the team. “We’re down at halftime and haven’t done a whole lot right in the first half. Here’s a chance to change that. And remember this game because we came back and we fought.”

His team responded. The Illini fought back and defeated EIU 62-54 Monday night at Assembly Hall in the second round of the WNIT. Bollant’s squad had only won one game while trailing at halftime this season.

“In the first half, it was a struggle and we just didn’t have a lot of joy,” Bollant said. “(A few months ago) we wouldn’t have kept fighting and wouldn’t have had the heart to make it happen, and today we did.”  

Eastern Illinois’ players noticed the change.

“At one point in the second half, they made the decision they wanted to win more,” Panthers guard Ta’Kenya Nixon said.

The Illini took over for good after an Amber Moore 3-pointer with 7:33 remaining in the game.

Moore lived up to her nickname, “Clutch,” once again, sinking that 3-pointer and three free throws in the final minute. The junior only grabbed three rebounds in the game, but all occurred in the final three minutes. She also led the Illini with 25 points in the team’s first round win over Miami (Ohio).

It was senior forward Karisma Penn, however, who led Illinois on Monday. She scored 19 points and grabbed nine rebounds, and was a force defensively with five blocks and four steals. 

“K.P., in the second half, refused to be guarded,” Bollant said. “She was strong going to the rim and got to the foul line as well.”

Illinois fell eight points behind with 14 minutes remaining. Penn decided it was time for her team to make a change.

“I wasn’t as concerned with the score as I was with our effort,” she said. “We needed to play harder, and we finally did that.”

Hundreds of EIU fans braved the blizzard on Monday and made the 50-mile trek north up Interstate 57 to watch the Panthers take on the Illini.

For most of the night, the fans in blue had plenty to cheer about.

The Panthers, who won their first postseason game in program history at Missouri on Wednesday, jumped out to an 11-2 lead and led for the majority of the game. The small school from the Ohio Valley Conference outrebounded the state’s flagship university, 44 to 33.

“I thought we played 35 minutes of the best basketball we’ve played all year,” Eastern Illinois head coach Lee Buchanan said. “If it was a 35-minute game, we’d be sitting here talking about the win.”

Luckily for Illinois, college basketball is a 40-minute game, and the Illini move on to play at Toledo in the third round of the WNIT on Thursday at 6 p.m. The Rockets defeated Butler and Youngstown State in the first and second rounds.

Bollant said his team’s resiliency helped it improve for later rounds in the tournament.

“We fought. We battled, and we grew,” Bollant said. “Survive and advance — and we’re advancing.”

Johnathan can be reached at [email protected] and @jhett93. 

Editor’s Note: A previous version of this article stated that EIU fans traveled through the blizzard that canceled classes. Classes were canceled at the University of Illinois, not at Eastern Illinois University.