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Western Illinois University Athletics

Higginbotham
54
Chicago State CSUW 0-7
71
Winner Western Illinois WIU 6-2
Chicago State CSUW
0-7
54
Final
71
Western Illinois WIU
6-2
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 F
Chicago State CSUW 16 13 11 14 54
Western Illinois WIU 27 10 16 18 71

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

Higginbotham's Double-Double Completes Season Sweep Over Chicago State

Western Illinois defeats the Cougars 71-54 inside Western Hall

MACOMB, Ill.— A second-half spurt Wednesday (Nov. 29) along with the Taylor Higginbotham's double-double of 17 points and a career-high 14 rebounds helped the Leathernecks sweep the two-game series against in-state foe Chicago State, 71-54.

"I had a feeling that this game would be tough to get in a rhythm, especially after we just played them a week ago," said head coach JD Gravina. "That's a tough turnaround and credit to Chicago State. I thought they were scrappy and they did a great job of getting their hands on the ball after we coughed it up. We had some kids step up which made a big difference. I thought Taylor Higginbotham's mentality has been off the charts over the last couple of weeks and that's been big for our team. I also give a lot of credit to the bench when they came in and picked us up."

The Leathernecks immediately jumped out to a 10-point lead after Michelle Farrow netted back-to-back threes to force a Chicago State timeout in the first. That helped Western to an 11-point cushion going into the second.

The lead stayed at 11 with 4:29 to go until the half, and then Farrow drained her third trey from beyond the arc off a dish from Olivia Braun to make it a 37-22 game at the 3:09 mark. Led by the 10-point halves from Higginbotham and Farrow, the Leathernecks had a 37-29 lead going into the half.

An and-1 from Olivia Braun gave the Purple and Gold gave WIU an 11-point lead early on in the third, which preceded a fast-break layup by Morgan Blumer off a dish from Emily Clemens to give Western a 43-32 advantage. The lead was eventually 13 (53-40) heading into the fourth quarter.

A pair of threes by Higginbotham and Blumer gave Western a 20-point advantage with 7:47 to go. At just over two minutes remained in the game, the Higginbotham-Blumer duo struck again, as this time, Higginbotham dished a cross-court pass to Blumer for a transition bucket to seal the game.

Western Illinois hits the road for a matchup at Wichita State this Friday (Dec. 1) for a noon tipoff.

PROGRAM NOTES:
-Leathernecks picked up their 36th win over the Cougars in the series history.
-Western Illinos is now 4-1 against in-state opponents.

PLAYER NOTES:
-Emily Clemens recorded her 47th career game of five or more assists.
-Morgan Blumer tied her career-high of five steals for the second time… She also had 17 points, which marked her 35th career game in double figures.
-Michelle Farrow's 12 points marks her 15th career double-digit scoring game.
-Krishna Merriman set new career-highs in rebounds (4) and steals (2).
-Taylor Higginbotham recorded her seventh-career double-double… She also set new career-highs in rebounds (14) and steals (6)… Tonight also marked her 51st career double-digit scoring game.
 
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