Women's Basketball Scoreboard (Dec. 31)
UIC 66, Northern Illinois 54
South Dakota 81, Valparaiso 70
UIC 66, Northern Illinois 54
The UIC women's basketball team (10-2) won its tenth consecutive game Tuesday (Dec. 31) with a 66-54 victory over Northern Illinois (4-6). Ruvanna Campbell (22 points and nine rebounds) and Rachel Story (20 points) led the Flames to their fourth straight win over the Huskies.
The Flames' 10-2 record matches the 1977-78 squad for the best twelve-game start in program history. It is also the first ten-game win streak since Jan. 11-Feb. 17, 2007 in the midst of a program-record 11 consecutive victories.
Seven of the ten wins have been at road or neutral sites. Additionally, four of the ten victories have been over 2012-13 WNIT participants (Idaho State, Miami Ohio, Texas Southern and Butler).
UIC’s current ten-game win streak ranks as the fifth longest in the nation. The streak only trails eight programs (No. 1 UConn, No. 2 Notre Dame, No. 11 Oklahoma State, No. 14 Iowa State, Arkansas, Indiana, San Diego and West Virginia).
UIC hit 27-of-31 shots from the free throw line, including 19-of-22 in the second half. The Flames’ 87.1 percent from the charity stripe is a season-high. It is the sixth time this season that the Flames have made more than 20 free throws. UIC has made 53 free throws on 62 attempts over the last two contests (.854).
UIC held a 38-31 advantage on the boards and improved to 10-1 this season when out-rebounding its opponent. The Flames tied a season-high with 12 steals and scored 17 points off 18 NIU turnovers.
UIC took the early advantage and led by as many as six at 18-12 on Campbell’s jumper with 11:09 left in the first half. NIU responded with an 11-5 run to tie the contest at 23-23 with 5:40 remaining.
The Huskies took their only lead of the game at 26-25 on Alexis Lindstrom’s three-pointer with 4:47 to go until halftime. The Flames scored the final six points of the half, including four from Campbell, to lead 31-26 at the break.
NIU narrowed the UIC advantage to 45-42 with 9:23 left in the game but the Flames responded with a 6-0 run to take a commanding 51-42 lead with 7:35 on the clock. UIC hit 11 free throws down the stretch to seal its tenth straight victory.
Campbell scored 17 of her 22 points in the first half, the most of any UIC player this season. In fact, it is the most in the first half since Shameia Green poured in 18 against Butler on Jan. 19, 2012.
Campbell was 8-of-14 from the floor and 6-of-8 from the line. She also collected a game-high nine rebounds. Campbell’s performance is her third 20-point effort this season.
Story scored 18 of her 20 points in the second half, the most in the second half since Katie Hannemann had 22 against Wright State on Feb. 21, 2013. She finished 10-of-11 from the free throw line for her second double-digit free throw performance of the season (11-of-15 at WMU - 12/18/13).
Story’s performance is her fourth straight 20-point effort. She owns six 20-point performances this season and 17 in her UIC career. The Flames are undefeated (10-0) with Story in the lineup. She has been in double-figures in 13 straight contests dating back to last season.
Redshirt senior Katie Hannemann contributed seven points and five rebounds while senior Emily Kobel finished with seven points and three steals. Kobel made her 109th career three-pointer to start the contest.
Sophomore Terri Bender collected four steals and owns 22 steals over the last six games (3.6 steals per contest). Senior Megan Wallace pulled down six rebounds in 16 minutes of action.
South Dakota 81, Valparaiso 70
Jessi Wiedemann recorded a career-high 17 points Tuesday, but the Coyotes shot 58% from the field as they claimed an 81-70 victory at the ARC.
The game started with a stellar shooting display from both teams as Valpo made its first four shots and South Dakota opened 5-for-5. Senior Charae Richardson provided the Crusaders with their first six points for the second game in a row as she drained a pair of treys. Wiedemann followed suit with a three of her own before Abby Dean (Carmel, Ind./Carmel) registered four of her 15 points. The Brown and Gold held an 18-13 lead after six minutes of play.
The two teams traded leads for the next ten minutes as neither squad could build an advantage greater than four. South Dakota finally pulled ahead by nine with 1:30 to go in the opening half on a second-chance three-pointer from Madeleine White. The Coyotes led 43-36 at the break.
The Crusaders assembled a 6-0 run right out of the locker room to slice the deficit to one. South Dakota responded with a 10-2 run of its own. Lisa Loeffler scored six of her eight points during the three-and-a-half minute rush that put the visitors back ahead by nine.
Valpo kept it to a single-digit game until the final two minutes when South Dakota put points on the scoreboard on seven consecutive possessions. The Coyotes boasted a 35-25 rebounding advantage as they received 24 bench points.
In just her second game back from a hand injury, Jessica Carr dropped in 12 points and dished out four assists.
Richardson ended the day with 13 points while Dean shot 5-of-11 from the floor as part of her 15-point afternoon.
The Crusaders finished with four players in double digits for the first time since their 74-50 win over Chicago State at the Toledo Invite. As a team, they sunk a season-high 10 three-pointers. Their 13 turnovers were the second-fewest committed thus far.
