East Peoria, Ill. - In a game that saw 13 ties and 13 lead changes, the #9 Illinois Central College women's basketball team came up short to #13 Parkland, losing 62-60 on Wednesday night in Region 24 & M-WAC action. The Cougars had two chances to tie in the waning seconds, but both shots were off the mark. ICC falls to 14-7 overall, 3-2 in Region play while Parkland improved to 18-1 and 5-0.
"This was a tough one to lose," coach
Karrie Redeker said. "We played well defensively in the first half but then let our guard down in the second half and gave up way too many easy baskets. We know our Region is one the toughest in the nation so we need to learn from this and get back on the horse to get ready for Saturday."
The teams played mostly even in the first quarter as Parkland took a narrow 13-12 lead.
Cierra McNamee's rebound putback sparked a 6-0 Cougar run as
Peyton Dearing got a steal and hit
Kyleigh Block for a layup.
Naomi Elliott got in the paint for a jumper to put ICC 18-13.
An Elliott three-pointer (assist Block) gave ICC their largest lead of the night at 23-16 and eventually a 28-22 advantage at the half. The Cougar defense was key in the opening 20 minutes as they limited to PC to just 7-28 shooting (25%) while the offense rode McNamee's 15 point and 7 rebound effort to take the lead.
Parkland turned things around quickly to open the third, going on a 7-0 run to grab a 29-28 lead with 7:17 to play. McNamee snagged a board for a putback to stop the PC run and then
Miya Webb drained two three-pointers to keep pace at 42-all. On the last play of the third quarter,
Paris Wilson was fouled on a three-pointer and swished all three freebies to put ICC up 45-43 heading into the final period.
The game see-sawed back and forth like a heavyweight fight with each side making big plays. Block and Dearing scored for the Cougars to keep pace and then McNamee scored to tie the score at 56-all. PC took a 59-56 on free throws but McNamee again answered to pull ICC to within one at 59-58. Each team hit a free throw to make score 60-59 in favor of Parkland and ICC had a chance to take the lead but missed both free throws. Parkland scored a layup on a broken play to go up 62-59 with :36 seconds remaining and the Cougars turned the ball over on the next possession and had to foul. PC missed both, giving the Cougars chances to tie but they couldn't convert.
Final stats showed the Cougars hitting just 31% of their field goals (21-66) while the Cobras finished at 21-53 (40%), including 14-23 in the second half (61%).
STATISTICAL LEADERS
Cierra McNamee (21 points, 11 rebounds)
Miya Webb (10 points, 3 rebounds)
Kyleigh Block (8 points, 6 rebounds, 2 assists)
Peyton Dearing (7 points, 4 assists, 3 rebounds)
WHAT'S NEXT FOR THE COUGARS
@ John Wood Blazers (7-12, 1-4)
Saturday, February 4th - 1PM
Mountain Dew Court - Quincy, Ill.
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