Michigan
9-14, 2-8
Illinois
16-5, 6-3
Cold-Shooting Wolverines Drop Road Contest at Illinois
2/1/2007 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- The University of Michigan women's basketball team was unable to pick up its second straight Big Ten Conference victory, falling 65-44 to Illinois Thursday night (Feb. 1) at Assembly Hall. The Wolverines (9-14, 2-8 Big Ten) shot just 27 percent (17-of-63) from the field for the game, including 1-of-20 from three-point range. U-M also fell victim to the hot shooting of Lori Bjork, who hit five triples to help the Fighting Illini (16-5, 6-3 Big Ten) take a 22-point halftime lead from which the Maize and Blue could never fully recover.
Freshman Krista Phillips (Saskatoon, Saskatchewan/Aden Bowman Collegiate HS) finished with a team-high 10 points to go along with five rebounds, and sophomore Melinda Queen (Oak Forest, Ill./Carl Sandburg HS) matched a career best with seven rebounds in 16 minutes off the bench. Bjork added one more triple in the second half en route to her game-high 25 points.
Sophomore Carly Benson (Carney, Mich./Carney-Nadeau Public School) provided the first points of the game on a soft one-hander from the baseline at 19:01. The U-M defense caused the Illini to misfire on five of their first six attempts, while a Phillips score on a post-up move put the Wolverines in front 4-2 at 17:31.
Phillips' basket would be Michigan's only points for a span of 5:45, while Illinois put together a 9-0 run to take an 11-4 lead with 12:48 remaining in the first half.
A Stephany Skrba (Toronto, Ontario/Langstaff Secondary School) free throw at 11:45 broke the scoring drought, and Benson followed with a turnaround jumper to cut the deficit to 11-7 at 10:38. The Wolverines stayed within four points of the lead thanks to the shooting of junior Janelle Cooper (Detroit, Mich./Renaissance HS) and sophomore Ashley Jones (Detroit, Mich./Martin Luther King HS), who knocked down back-to-back jumpers to keep the Illini advantage at 15-11 with 6:58 left.
Illinois closed the half with a 20-2 run, with Michigan's only points in the remaining minutes coming off a Sireece Bass (Detroit, Mich./Pershing HS) jump shot at 3:02. Bjork canned three of her five first-half three-pointers during the run, helping the Illini take a comfortable 35-13 lead into the break.
The Wolverines shot just 19 percent (6-of-31) from the field in the first half and missed all eight of their attempts from three-point range. Illinois shot 11-of-31 (36 percent) in the first half, but six of those baskets came from beyond the arc. Bjork scored 17 points, including 5-of-6 from long range, to pace the Illini in the first 20 minutes.
Michigan came out in the second half and immediately worked the ball down into the post, with Phillips scoring eight points during a 12-5 run to open the period. The result was a 15-point Illinois lead, 40-25, with 15:38 to go in the game.
The lead would prove to be insurmountable for the Wolverines, as the Illini never let the lead dip below 17 the rest of the way en route to their 10th home win in 11 tries this season.
The Wolverines return home to Crisler Arena to host Northwestern on Sunday (Feb. 4). The game is set for 2 p.m. start and can be heard live over the radio on both WTKA (AM 1050) and WWJ (AM 950).
Contact: Marc Ressler (734) 763-4423
