MACOMB, Ill.- The Western Illinois women's basketball team couldn't overcome a second-half run as it dropped a Summit League home game to Oakland, 57-43, at Waste Management Court at Western Hall.
The Golden Grizzlies (22-5, 14-2 Summit League) picked up a late basket on a lay-up from Melissa Jeltema with two seconds remaining in the first half to take a six point lead (29-23) into the locker room.
Jeltema came back out of the locker room and scored the opening basket of the second half, but back-to-back baskets from freshman Lyndi Thorman brought the Westerwinds (9-19, 7-10) within four points at 31-27 with 18:23 left in the second half.
Oakland countered with back-to-back baskets of their own from Jessica Pike and April Kidd, but junior Jordon O'Brien answered with a three-pointer with 15:03 left in the game to pull Western within five points at 35-30.
The Golden Grizzlies went on a 9-2 run that lasted nearly five minutes and was capped off by a jumper from Sharise Calhoun with 10:37 on the clock to give Oakland a 44-32 advantage.
The closest the Westerwinds would come to the Golden Grizzlies for the rest of the game would be eight points after a step-back three from freshman Katie Horsman pulled Western within eight points at 44-36 with 9:18 left in the game.
Oakland closed the game on 13-5 run, picking up seven points from Brittany Carnago during the final stretch.
A three-pointer from senior Amanda Walker gave the Westerwinds their first lead of the game at 6-4 with 18:11 remaining in the first half. After a Hanna Reising lay-up put the Golden Grizzlies up two, sophomore Anne Borgertpoepping connected on a three-pointer to give Western the lead at 13-12 with 13:44 left in the opening half.
Walker converted on a steal and a fastbreak lay-up to keep the score tied at 20-20 with 8:23 left before halftime.
O'Brien led all scorers for the second straight game by scoring 15 points on 5-of-11 (.454) shooting from the floor. Thorman added nine points and pulled down a team high six rebounds. Walker chipped in with eight points and four assists.
Oakland was led by Jeltema who had a game-high 16 points and nine rebounds. Carnago added 12 points, while Reising scored nine points and grabbed six boards.
The Westerwinds remain at home to finish regular-season play against IUPUI, Saturday, February 28. Tip-off is scheduled for 4:30 p.m. at Waste Management Court at Western Hall. The game will be the final home game for three seniors: Walker, Nicole Myers and Rasheena Salter, who will all be honored after the men's game.
Postgame Notes
? O'Brien and Horsman each set new career highs in steals with five and three respectively.
? Western shot 33.3 percent (6-18) from behind the three-point line compared to just 21.4 percent (3-14).
Postgame Quotes
Jordan O'Brien
Opening statement
“Give credit to Oakland, they got a lot of offensive rebounds and played well tonight. Offensively, I thought we had some good looks and did a good job of spreading the floor.”
On playing IUPUI again in the home finale after opening the conference season at IUPUI
“We have to send a message to them because we might see them in the tournament and we have some vengeance for them. Since playing them in December, we have been playing with more heart, dedication and as a team. We feel a lot better as a team and it is going to be a whole different ball game this time around.”
Head coach Leslie Crane
Opening statement
“I am not going to be negative at all, our players did a fantastic job tonight. They (Oakland) usually score 70 or more points a game and we did a fantastic job on defense with our match ups. Our problem all year has being able to score points and our kids are still not shooting the ball with any purpose. They are not shooting to score and are not finishing to the bucket still, I think it is immaturity. Four out of the six post players are freshman and seven of our 11 scholarship players are new to the program. Now, at this time of the year it should not make a difference, but in our situation it does. We are learning a lot of lessons, but unfortunately it is coming during the conference race. It is a lot of work and we are teaching for the future because our team on the floor is our team of the future.”
On playing IUPUI again after opening the conference season with them
“Our defense is much better and we will be able to guard their post player (Julia Whitted) this time around. We also have to find ways to score against them.”
Other postgame thoughts
“We try to teach the girls to play tough and be tough. In division I basketball you have to be able to take hits, get bumped and not be afraid of it, unfortunately we have some players shying away from that.”
“I have to commend our kids tonight, they did a lot of good things. We held them (Oakland) to 3-for-14 shooting from behind the arc and we kept (Jessica) Pike down who had been shooting 53 percent from behind the arc and she was 0-for-3 tonight.”
