Dec. 16, 2000

Box Score

Valparaiso, Ind. - The UIC women's basketball team saw its losing skid hit four on Saturday night as they fell 58-56 at Valparaiso. With the loss, the Flames are now 1-6 on the season. The Crusaders, meanwhile, improved to 2-7 with the win.

The loss spoiled a season-high 20-point effort from senior Kimberly Henry and a season-best 12-point performance from senior Erin Partaker, who also led the team with six rebounds. Six-foot-five Marlous Nieuwveen paced the Crusaders with 16 points.

"I'm happy with our effort tonight, but we need to play stronger and make plays," commented head coach Tim Eatman, who received his first technical foul of the season in the second half. "We got shots tonight, but we just didn't make them."

The Flames, who trailed 54-44 with 4:57 remaining, rallied back behind Henry and had a chance to send the game into overtime with 0:06 left in the contest. The Crusaders, which still had two fouls to give, smartly fouled on UIC's first two attempts to bring the ball up the floor, though, setting up one final play from just outside of half court with 0:01.8 left.

On the play, Valparaiso covered up Henry's first option- Partaker fading to the far corner - and forced her to loft the ball to sophomore forward Jaysie Chambers, who caught the ball in traffic 35 feet from the basket and was unable to get a shot off before the horn.

"This is not where I want this team to be right now," remarked Eatman. "We'll be right there in March, though, I'm confident in that. I just have to do a better job of coaching this team and that starts tomorrow at practice."

On Saturday evening, Valparaiso jumped out early on the Flames as they used a quick 7-0 run to take a 16-8 lead with 10:46 left in the first half. UIC picked it up from there as a jumper by Henry and one of Partaker's season-high four three-pointers sparked a 17-4 Flames' spurt that staked them to a 25-20 advantage, their largest lead of the day. The Crusaders took momentum in the locker room, though, as they outscored UIC 7-2 in the final minutes to knot the game at 27-27 heading into intermission.

In the second half, UIC would hold its last lead at 37-35, but a 10-2 Valpo put the Crusaders up 45-39 with 11:10 left. A trey by Melea Clark and a short jumper by Henry helped the Flames whittle the lead back down to one (45-44), but this time a 9-0 Valpo run gave them a 10-point cushion (54-44) with just under five minutes remaining.

UIC contines its four-game road trip on Tuesday, Dec. 19 as they travel to Evansville, Ind., to take on the Purple Aces at 6:00 p.m.