Crystal Lake, Ill.---Cierra McNamee's career high 27 points powered the #7 ICC women's basketball team to a 103-69 win over McHenry County College on Saturday afternoon.  The 6'0 sophomore forward from Moline connected on 13 of 15 field goals and was one of four players in double figures, as Dayja Evans (16 points), Keijah Gray (12 points), and Kayla Gordon (10 points) all helped the Cougar cause.  

The teams battled nearly evenly as MCC took an early 9-8 lead until ICC went on a 10-2 run behind baskets from Raquel Frakes and Peyton Dearing and a three-ball from Evans to post a 22-14 first quarter lead.  McHenry put on a full-court press but the Cougars handled it well, getting easy baskets for McNamee and layups for Derria Edwards and Peyton Dearing to go up 32-19.  The Scots forced three Cougar turnovers and exchanged those for points, closing the Cougar lead to 36-33 but ICC picked up their defense and closed the half with scores from Courtney Jones, McNamee, and a Kayla Gordon for a 46-34 lead.

The Cougar defense was locked in to start the second half, stopping MCC on their first six possessions. McNamee and Mitchell took care of things on the offensive end, scoring the eleven unanswered points to give ICC a 56-34 lead to take control.  Gordon took a charge to keep the momentum going and then Keijah Gray went to work in the paint to net three scores on assists from Gordon and Evans, giving ICC a 73-44 advantage into the final stanza. 

ICC continued to get contributions from up and down the lineup in the fourth as Evans added two more treys, and Gray, Gordon, Mitchell, and McNamee kept the Blue and Gold on track to get the win.

"We needed a win like this," head coach Karrie Redeker said.  "We were able to get a nice break at Thanksgiving and came back this past week to put a lot of work in, focusing on the little details.  It was great to see our kids work together and back to playing ICC basketball."  

Leaders (unofficial stats)
Cierra McNamee 27 points, 6 rebounds
Dayja Evans 16 points, 4 assists
Keijah Gray 12 points
Kayla Gordon 10 points 6 assists, 1 charge taken
Courtney Jones 9 points, 3 assists
Kristyn Mitchell 9 points, 6 rebounds
Derria Edwards 5 assists

Next up:  ICC, now 3-5, will finally return to action in Ramsey Gym on Saturday, December 11 as they host Kankakee at 1pm.  Livestream will be on the ICC Athletics' YouTube Channel.