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Western Illinois University Athletics

Higginbotham FP
92
Winner Western Illinois WIU 5-3
69
Eastern Illinois EIU 1-6
Winner
Western Illinois WIU
5-3
92
Final
69
Eastern Illinois EIU
1-6
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 F
Western Illinois WIU 23 21 17 31 92
Eastern Illinois EIU 14 18 14 23 69

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

Women's Hoops Defeats In-State Foe Eastern Illinois, 92-69

Rebounding leads the way for 23-point victory over rival Panthers

CHARLESTON, Ill. – Behind a dominating rebounding effort, the Western Illinois women's basketball team picked up their fifth victory of the year with a 92-69 decision over in-state rival Eastern Illinois Tuesday (Dec. 2) evening. The Leathernecks (5-3), who never trailed, tallied their second-straight 50-rebound game and owned a plus-17 rebounding margin over Eastern Illinois (1-6).

The Purple and Gold dominated the boards, outrebounding Eastern Illinois by a 50-33 margin. WIU especially owned the offensive glass, collecting 20 offensive boards compared to the seven of EIU. It marks the first time since Western's season opener two seasons ago (Nov. 8, 2013 at Texas A&M Corpus Cristi) in which the Purple and Gold tallied 20 or more offensive boards. The Leathernecks' rebounding effort is also the team's first time since their trip to Denver last season (Jan. 15) in which the team owned a plus-17 rebounding margin or better. 

"I thought we rebounded really well tonight on both ends," said head coach JD Gravina. "We were just going hard for the ball. Taylor (Higginbotham) can really time her jump and go in and take balls away from people, Mallory (Boyle) is a really good rebounder and goes to the ball hard, and our guards chase down the long rebounds. With us shooting a lot of threes we will have opportunities for long rebounds. That's a really tough box out and somewhere that we should have an advantage being a little undersized."

Western Illinois went work on Eastern Illinois early, as the team opened the game on a 16-4 run over the first 5:47 of the game. Michelle Farrow and Mallory Boyle connected on back-to-back layups to get the scoring started between the in-state foes. After trading baskets, WIU then ripped off 10 unanswered points to build its 12-point cushion. Sophie Reichelt tallied five straight points before Ciara Marlow and Taylor McClintock paired up to collect the final five points.

After leading by nine points after the first quarter, the Leathernecks extended the lead to as many as 19 points in the second quarter, as Michelle Maher's old-fashioned 3-point play gave the visitors a 43-24 lead with just under two minutes remaining. EIU would answer with an 8-1 run to end the half as Western would take a 44-32 lead into the break. Western forced 12 Panther turnovers in the opening half, and used them to outscore EIU, 18-4, in points off of turnover. The Leathernecks also limited Eastern to just two offensive boards in the first 20 minutes, compared to the 13 Western brought in.

A back-and-forth third quarter saw Western build its lead to 15, as the Leathernecks countered each potential run that Eastern tried to mount. In the fourth quarter the lead would balloon to 20 following Taylor Higginbotham's triple with 4:48 remaining. After being held to four points in the first half, Higginbotham exploded for 12 points in the second half to lead Western with 16 points on the night. The freshman would tally her second double-double as a Leatherneck as she tallied 11 rebounds, five on the offensive end alone.

Marlow's layup with 23 seconds remaining would cap Western's 23-point victory over Eastern, the second consecutive win in the series for WIU.

Higginbotham was joined in double figures by Maher (15), Reichelt (12), and McClintock (12). Maher and Emily Clemens ran the point to near perfection Tuesday, as the duo combined for 10 assists and just two turnovers.

Entering the game averaging a national-best 12.7 triples per game, the Leathernecks were cold from beyond the arc as the team shot 29.2 percent (7-of-24) from deep. The team offset the struggles from deep by owning a 53-36 advantage in the paint.

The Purple and Gold return to action this Saturday, December 5, as the Leathernecks play host to Ashford University. Tip-off between Western the Saints is set for 4:30 p.m. inside Western Hall.
 
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