NORMAL, Ill.- Senior Stephanie Lovingood recorded a season-high 20 points and added seven rebounds in the Western Illinois women's basketball team's 69-56 loss to Illinois State at Redbird Arena.
Western held the Redbirds (9-1, 0-0 Missouri Valley) off the scoreboard for the first 3:35 of the second-half and went on a 4-0 run to take a 38-37 lead.
Junior Katy Davenport (Manhattan, Kan./Manhattan/Johnson County CC) ended a 17-2 Illinois State run and a six minute streak without a Westerwinds (3-7, 1-0 The Summit League) basket when she drilled a three pointer from the top of the key to cut the lead to 11, 54-43.
Western Illinois fought back to cut the deficit to eight after a baseline jumper by Lovingood (Peoria, Ill./Richwoods) with 5:30 left, the closest the Westerwinds would get to the Redbirds the rest of the game.
The Westerwinds opened the game on a 6-2 run after back-to-back threes by sophomore Jordon O'Brien (Parsons, Kan./Labette County) and senior Gina Hugelier (Elmhurst, Ill./York/Illinois-Chicago) at 18:19 mark in the first half.
Western took a 14-9 lead with fourteen minutes left in the first period after back-to-back baskets from junior Sarah Miller (Mundelein, Ill./Mundelein) and a layup from Lovingood.
Both teams held each other scoreless for three minutes until junior Nicole Myers (Palmyra, Mo./Palmyra) scored with 8:30 left on the clock in the opening period to make it a 22-19 game. Leshawn Johnson answered right back to end the Redbird's scoring drought and bring the score to 22-21.
Illinois State then took the lead, 24-22, after a three pointer from Johnson and continued on a 11-2 run over 6:30. Lovingood ended a Westerwind streak of six minutes without a field goal with a lay-up in the paint to cut to lead to five, 32-27.
Western Illinois closed the half with a 4-0 run after a driving layup from Hugelier and two free throws from junior Amanda Walker (Hampshire, Ill./Hampshire) to cut Redbird lead to three, 37-34, heading into the locker room.
The Westerwinds continue their five-game road trip as they head to Iowa City to play Iowa at Carver-Hawkeye Arena, Saturday, Dec. 22 at 4:05 p.m.
Notes: Lovingood had a season high 10 points in the first half... Western Illinois had three players in double-digits... Lovingood with 20, along with Miller and Davenport each scoring 10 points.
Quotes:
Western Illinois Head Coach Leslie Crane
“Our record is not indicative of our team. We have been up and down with illness and injuries this year. There are three or four games that I believe could have gone our way but didn't because of those injuries and illnesses”
“We are not going to see teams of this size or nature in our conference. I think that our team handled it very well and we will be fine when we get into our conference race.”
“We wanted to make sure that we took away their inside game. We wanted to make them shoot over top of us and I think that we stayed within that game plan. We did a good job of taking Ashleen Bracey and Nicolle Lewis out of the game, away from the basket, and not having any easy looks.”
