East Peoria, Ill. - A big fourth quarter run by Moberly Area caused the #10 Illinois Central College women's basketball team to drop a 75-63 decision to the #21 (in Division I) Greyhounds on Wednesday night at Ramsey Gym.  The Cougars led 36-32 at the half and trailed just 52-46 heading into the fourth, but a big run by the Greyhounds put the game out of reach, dropping the Cougars' record to 7-4.

ICC came out in attack mode as Kyleigh Block hit Peyton Dearing to score a layup just :05 seconds into the game.  Dearing and Laisha Armendariz Lopez then drained three-pointers while Jada Smith assisted on baskets by Cierra McNamee and Lopez to give ICC a 20-15 lead after the first quarter.  

The Cougars took a 25-20 lead on a runner by Naomi Elliott and three-ball by Block as the defense worked hard at limiting the Greyhounds to one shot.  Elliott tickled the twine for another trey and T'yana Lovelace scored the next three buckets (assists Block and Halie Gilbert) as the Cougars maintained a 34-32 lead.  Gilbert gave the Cougars momentum with a put-back just before the halftime buzzer as ICC went up 36-32.  First half statistics showed ICC shooting 47% from the field while owning a 22-19 rebounding edge on the bigger Greyhounds.  

The tables turned in the third quarter as Moberly opened the half on a 13-3 run by attacking the offensive glass and forcing the Cougars into hurried shots and turnovers to take a 45-39 advantage midway through the quarter.  ICC kept battling as Gilbert had an old-fashioned three-point play and Jada Smith found McNamee inside for a score as MACC took a 52-46 lead after three.  The Cougars shot just 3-13 compared to MACC's 9-19 in the stanza.

Moberly opened the fourth period with suffocating defense to go on an 18-3 run and open a 69-51 advantage, but the Cougars kept competing and trimmed the deficit back down to a dozen for the final margin.  Moberly harrassed ICC into 28 turnovers and outscored ICC 28-7 on second chance points.

Leaders
Cierra McNamee | 13 points, 8 rebounds
Naomi Elliott | 10 points, 4 rebounds, 3 steals
Halie Gilbert | 9 points, 8 rebounds, 3 blocks
Peyton Dearing | 8 points, 4 assists
T'yana Lovelace | 8 points, 4 rebounds, 1 charge taken
Miya Webb | 1 charge taken
I BEAT THE DEAN:  Jada Smith

Next up:
The Cougars will take a break for Christmas and return to Ramsey Gym to host the 41^st Annual Cougar Holiday Tournament.  At this time, six of the eight participating tournament teams are ranked in the Top 25 in this week's NJCAA DII poll.  ICC will host South Suburban at 6pm on Wednesday, Dec. 28; more information on the tourney and a full bracket will be forthcoming.

Other: 
*The Morton Red Wings Basketball Team entertained fans by playing at half.  The team is comprised of players ages 8-21 and is in the midst of a successful season.