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Western Illinois University Athletics

Tuck
Matthew Brooks
64
Winner Eastern Ill. EIU 2-0,0-0 OVC
62
Western Ill. WIU 0-3,0-0 Summit League
Winner
Eastern Ill. EIU
2-0,0-0 OVC
64
Final
62
Western Ill. WIU
0-3,0-0 Summit League
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 F
Eastern Ill. EIU 18 7 19 20 64
Western Ill. WIU 11 16 16 19 62

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

Leathernecks Drop Cross-State Battle

10 lead changes paved the way for a close matchup, Western heads North to face NIU on Thursday.

MACOMB, Ill. – Leatherneck women's basketball played on Monday (Nov. 11), falling 64-62 in a matchup against Eastern Illinois at Western Hall. With the result, Western moves to 0-3 on the season with a matchup against Northern Illinois coming up this Thursday (Nov. 17).
 
"It's always a hard-fought game with this team. We were struggling offensively which puts a lot of pressure on the defense and defensive rebounding, and that ended up being the difference tonight," head coach JD Gravina said. "We'll just have to figure out a way to get in a better flow offensively."
 
Kennedy Flanagan made the first start of her Western Illinois career as Eastern Illinois came out firing, opening the game on a 10-4 run. After an Addi Brownfield three pointer cut the lead to three, EIU came back with another run and held an 18-11 advantage after one. Western controlled play during the second period of play, opening the quarter on a 12-4 run that saw Jada Thorpe hit a shot from deep to take a 23-22 lead with 2:27 remaining in the half. Alissa Dins added four more down the stretch as WIU out-scored Eastern Illinois 16-7 and take a 27-25 lead into halftime.
 
The Leathernecks grew the lead to five early in the third quarter thanks to another Jada Thorpe deep ball, leading 32-27 with 8:10 remaining. After a Panther response, Western took a five-point lead thanks to a 9-2 run led by Elizabeth Lutz and Carla Flores both draining shots from beyond the arc. The lead would change hands once more, and Eastern Illinois led by one heading into the fourth.
 
The fourth quarter continued to be a back-and-forth affair, coming down to a last-second attempt that saw Western almost tie the game. After the Panthers took a three-point advantage with 21 seconds remaining, Anna Deets drew a foul on a three-point attempt and went to the line. After missing one and making the other, her third attempt missed but Alissa Dins came up with a clutch rebound and found an open Elizabeth Lutz, whose last-second three-point attempt was just off, seeing the Panthers take a 64-62 victory.
 
Jada Thorpe led all scorers with 17 points on 5-12 shooting from the field and 3-5 from deep, while adding four rebounds, four steals and tying a career-high with two blocks. Lutz finished with 10 points, five rebounds, five assists and four steals, shooting 5-6 from the line. Mallory McDermott scored 10 in 21 minutes off the bench while Alissa Dins scored six and grabbed six rebounds in a career-high 33 minutes of action. Carla Flores added another shot from three-point range on her way to six points in 15 minutes on the floor, while Anna Deets paired three points with a career-high six rebounds.
 
"That's one of those situations where the stats tell the story. I thought Anna rebounded really well and kind of got us going when we were down early. She got some big rebounds in our matchup zone and that's something we really need out of her," Gravina said. "It was good to see."
 
As a team, Western finished 19-56 (33.9%) from the field and made eight shots from deep, while continuing to find ways to get to the free throw line with 16 makes. The Leatherneck defense forced EIU into 19 turnovers and converted that into 20 points while the bench came up with another strong outing, scoring 23 points. There were six times throughout this game that it was tied and the lead changed on 10 different occasions, while nine different Leathernecks played 10-plus minutes.
 
"We have a lot of players that have the ability to contribute," Gravina said. "It's hard to get in a rhythm when you're playing 10 or 11 minutes so we've just got to figure out if we're going to stick to that or not."
 
Western Illinois women's basketball is back in action on Thursday (Nov. 17), taking on the Northern Illinois Huskies in a road matchup. Tip off in DeKalb is scheduled for 6 p.m.
 
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