Palm Beach, Fla. - A sluggish opening quarter created too big of a deficit for the #15 Illinois Central College women's basketball team to overcome, causing them to fall to DI Indian River State 75-64 on the opening day of the Palm Beach State Classic on Friday afternoon.  The Cougars got good shots but struggled scoring early in the game against the more physical Pioneers, getting down 18-0 in the opening quarter and 27-3 in the early part of the second period.  On the bright side, ICC steadily crawled back into the game to close to within seven points midway through the fourth quarter before IRSC pulled out the win.

The Pioneers took control early, racing out to a 22-3 first quarter lead.  IRSC scored the first five points of the second quarter to take a 27-3 lead when a Naomi Elliott three-pointer (assist Cierra McNamee) got ICC on track and sparked a huge run over the next eight minutes.  Highlights in the run included a charge drawn by Petyon Dearing and baskets by McNamee, Kyleigh Block, and another Elliott three-ball drew ICC to within 29-15, forcing the Pioneers to call timeout.  Miya Webb added an old-fashioned three-point play on an offensive rebound to cap the Cougars' 24-8 run and close their halftime deficit to just 35-27.   

The Pioneers started the second half in strong fashion, opening their lead back up to 50-35 but after a Halie Gilbert block, the Cougar defense again cranked up to get stops.  Laisha Armendariz Lopez nailed a three-pointer from the left baseline and McNamee and T'yana Lovelace went to work in the paint to draw ICC to within 57-47 heading into the fourth period.

Lovelace scored two more buckets in the paint (assists Paris Wilson and Webb) to get ICC to within 58-51, but an offensive put-back by the Pioneers on a free throw gave them momentum and they stretched their lead back to ten points and closed the game out with free throws.  The loss drops the Cougars' record to 3-2 on the season.  

STATISTICAL LEADERS 
T'yana Lovelace | 17 points, 7 rebounds
Cierra McNamee | 8 points, 6 rebounds
Peyton Dearing | 9 points, 1 charge taken
Paris Wilson | 4 assists
Miya Webb | 7 points

WHAT'S NEXT FOR THE COUGARS
2022 Palm Beach State Classic
Saturday, November 19th - 2PM CST vs. Palm Beach State College @ Erling Gym - Palm Beach, FL
Watch Live