Illinois women’s basketball head coach Matt Bollant had a realization while talking to his team in the locker room at halftime while facing a three-point deficit on Monday; his team has played poorly in the second half of games throughout the season. With the season on the line against Eastern Illinois in the second round of the WNIT, he told his team this was their last shot to change the trend.

“That’s one of the things I said at halftime: ‘Here’s a great opportunity,’” Bollant said. “We won one game all year when we were down at halftime.”

Illinois’ recent performances in second halves made a possible comeback Monday seem unlikely.

The Illini entered the matchup against the Panthers with a record of 0-6 in games decided by four points or fewer. In the four games prior, Illinois showed how that statistic has come to fruition.

In three consecutive losses to Ohio State, Purdue and Wisconsin, Illinois was outscored by a total of 111-87 in the second half. Thursday in a 73-60 win against Miami (Ohio) in the first round of the WNIT, Illinois saw a 15-point halftime lead cut to three points in the second half. Illinois escaped with a win anyway after a 22-12 surge to end the game.

After trailing 29-26 at halftime against Eastern Illinois in front of a large contingent of Panthers supporters, Illinois struggled out of the locker room. Eastern Illinois began the half on a 10-5 run, extending its lead to 39-31 with 14:06 remaining in the game.

“At the start of the second half, we gave up about five offensive rebounds in the first five minutes,” Bollant said.

That is when Illinois finally took Bollant’s halftime speech to heart.

Illinois charged on a 9-0 run to take 40-39 lead after sophomore guard Ivory Crawford scored a fastbreak layup off a steal by senior forward Karisma Penn. After scoring only six points off turnovers in the first half, Illinois doubled that total in the second half.

Coming out of a media timeout with the game tied at 44 and fewer than eight minutes left in the contest, junior guard Amber Moore, who led Illinois with a season-high 25 points in her last outing, put Illinois ahead for good with a corner 3-pointer.

“I think it was a big shot,” Moore said. “We were trying to take the lead and it was just a rhythm shot that I had to make.”

“To actually take the lead can really change momentum,” Bollant said. “That shot to take the lead is really the key shot, and certainly that was huge for us to get the lead and get us going.”

Penn, who shot just 3-for-10 from the field in the first half, scored 10 points and grabbed six rebounds in the second half.

“Coach said I was (4-for-7) in the second half, so I must have been awful in the first half,” Penn said.

Much of the second half success could be attributed to the Buzz defense that has led to Illinois runs throughout the season 

“I thought in the first half we did a really good job against (the Buzz),” Eastern Illinois head coach Lee Buchanan said. “Second half, I thought we got a little bit lazy with some of our passes, we tried to rush things at times and I think Illinois cranked up their defense a little bit.”

“Their height and their athleticism was definitely a challenge to come over,” said Nixon, who scored three points in the second half after leading her team with 14 in the first half. “They’re quick, one second they’re not there, and then the ball goes up and they’re there.”

Heading into a Thursday matchup in the round of 16 against Toledo, who is coming off back-to-back double-digit victories, Illinois may need more than a good second half to advance.

Michael can be reached at [email protected].