Springfield, Ill. - Cierra McNamee's 23 points led the seventh-ranked Illinois Central College women's basketball team (12-6, 2-1) to a 71-60 win over Lincoln Land (12-4, 1-1) on Saturday afternoon at Cass Gym in both Region 24 and MWAC action. In addition to the win, McNamee, the third-year forward from Moline High School, collected the 1,000th point of her collegiate career, while freshman Halie Gilbert had her first career double-double of 10 points and 10 rebounds. The Cougars were solid in several areas, dishing out 23 assists on 29 made field goals, while holding the Loggers to 33% field goal shooting in the second half. 

"Kudos to CiCi on an amazing accomplishment," said head coach Karrie Redeker. "We are all about 'team first' in our program, but when she hit that baseline shot for the 1,000th point, our kids on the bench went absolutely bananas, which shows the type of kids we have here."

"We're working on developing a 'relentless' mindset, and we had that down the stretch, which was a key to the win," Redeker said. 

McNamee had eight points in the opening quarter as the teams traded scores, and a Laisha Armendariz three-pointer (assist Paris Wilson) gave the Cougars an 18-17 first quarter advantage. 

McNamee, Gilbert, and Kyleigh Block kept ICC rolling to start the second quarter as ICC led 24-21 with five minutes until halftime. Following a Peyton Dearing put-back that gave ICC a 26-21 edge, Block took a charge and Miya Webb played stellar full-court on-ball defense that sparked the Cougars. Block, Gilbert, Armendariz, McNamee, and Naomi Elliott all scored (all baskets were scored on assists) to help ICC to a 37-27 advantage at the half.

Lincoln Land came out of the intermission with a run to cut the Cougar lead to 41-39 with 6:30 remaining in the third, but Elliott made two free throws that started a 10-2 run, as she hit a jumper (assist Wilson), Wilson and Webb had buckets in the paint, and then McNamee nailed a baseline fadeaway jumper for her 1,000th point, pushing the lead back out to 51-41. Two Gilbert baskets helped the Cougars keep the lead at double digits (55-45) heading into the final quarter. 

The Loggers pulled to within 58-52 at the beginning of the fourth, but four points from Webb and a Block basket pushed the lead to the Cougars' largest of the game at 64-52 and Lincoln Land would get no closer. 

STATISTICAL LEADERS
Cierra McNamee | 23 points, 5 rebounds + "I Beat the Dean"
Halie Gilbert | 10 points, 10 rebounds, 5 assists
Naomi Elliott | 9 points, 4 rebounds
Kyleigh Block | 8 points, 4 rebounds, 1 charge taken
Peyton Dearing | 7 points, 4 assists
Miya Webb | 6 points, 5 assists, 3 rebounds + "I Beat the Dean"

WHAT'S NEXT FOR THE COUGARS
@ Millikin University JV
Wednesday, January 25th - 7PM
Griswold Center - Decatur, Ill. 
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