Skip To Main Content

Upcoming Events and Recent Results

Western Illinois University Athletics

Michelle Maher
WIU Visual Productions Center
74
SIU-Edwardsville SIUE 1-1
78
Winner Western Illinois WIU 2-0
SIU-Edwardsville SIUE
1-1
74
Final
78
Western Illinois WIU
2-0
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 F
SIU-Edwardsville SIUE 17 16 25 16 74
Western Illinois WIU 19 30 9 20 78

Game Recap: Women's Basketball | | WIU Athletic Communications

Women's Basketball Holds Off SIU-Edwardsville, 78-74

Michelle Maher joins 1,000 point club as Leathernecks edge Cougars

MACOMB, Ill. – The Western Illinois women's basketball team held off a late surge from SIU-Edwardsville Sunday afternoon (Nov. 15), defeating the Cougars by a 78-74 final. Michelle Maher became the program's 15th 1,000-point scorer during the contest, as Western Illinois moved to 2-0 on the season.
 
"We can be really dangerous, and we can put up a lot of points in a couple minute stretch so it was great building that lead," said head coach JD Gravina. "We knew they would battle back to the extent of 25 to nine. It was not ideal and I told the girls in the locker room that we have to find a way, when we are grinding, to grind better, and still give ourselves an opportunity to go on those runs. End of the day, in the fourth quarter, I told them that we are tied with the team that was picked to win the OVC, and just beat Northern Illinois by 26 at home, and this is where we want them. I thought we did a good job of grinding out the fourth quarter."
 
Western was forced to grind out a fourth quarter with the Cougars after letting a 16-point halftime lead slip away Sunday inside Western Hall. With 4:11 remaining in the final quarter of play, Western and SIU-E were tied at 67-all following a Donshel Beck layup. On WIU's next trip down the court the team would take the lead for good following a personal foul followed by a technical foul on CoCo Moore of the Cougars, fouling her out of the game. Maher would hit both free throws, and Michelle Farrow would get a jumper in the paint to fall on the ensuing possession, to spring Western's lead up to four in a matter of seconds.
 
Farrow would drill a 3-pointer moments later to give WIU a 7-0 run and a 74-67 lead with just under three minutes remaining in the game. The Cougars would cut the lead to two in the closing moments, but Maher's layup with 16 seconds remaining would give Western the four-point margin of victory. 
 
Maher, who entered Sunday's game with 995 career points, became the 15th player in program history to tally 1,000 points when the senior's triple with 5:08 remaining in the first quarter found the bottom of the net. The senior out of Park Ridge, Illinois, would end the day with a team-high 19 points.
 
Western jumped out to a 49-33 halftime lead thanks to a second quarter which saw the Purple and Gold outscore the Cougars, 30-16. Freshman Taylor Higginbotham led the way in the quarter, scoring 10 points off the bench. The Germantown, Wisconsin, native ended the day with 17 points on 6-of-10 shooting, including hitting 2-of-3 from beyond the arc. In her first two career games, Higginbotham has tallied 42 points off the bench to lead the Leathernecks.

Sophie Reichelt netter her second consecutive game in double figures as she tallied 13 points and paced Western with eight rebounds. Farrow continued her strong start to the season as she would cap her afternoon with 18 points and a career-best six rebounds in a career-high 35 minutes.
 
SIU-Edwardsville, the favorites to win the Ohio Valley Conference, fell to 1-1, despite a 34-point performance from the OVC Preseason Player of the Year Shronda Butts.
 
Western hits the road for the first time this season next Thursday, November 19th, as the Leatherneck travel to take on Iowa. The Hawkeyes, an NCAA Sweet 16 team a season ago, was ranked 23rd in the preseason coaches poll. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m. inside Carver-Hawkeye Arena.
 
Print Friendly Version