Feb. 16, 2002
Box Score
Indianapolis, Indiana - University of Illinois at Chicago forward Jaysie Chambers recorded a career-high 36 points and tied a school-record with 15 buckets in the Flames' last meeting against Butler on January 19th.
Due to a lack of depth on the Flames' bench, Chambers was unable to utilize her inside presence on Saturday against the Bulldogs as UIC was without the services of junior center Zsuzsa Tarnai. The Bulldogs took advantage and headed into halftime with a 26-24 lead over the Flames.
Tarnai, is currently under suspension by the university, pending a investigation of all foreign players that are currently playing in the NCAA.
Chambers, however, came out with a new attitude in the second half as she scored 13 of her game-high 22 points and tied a career-high with 15 rebounds to help UIC to the 61-50 Horizon League victory over Butler at the Hinkle Fieldhouse.
"We didn't try to motivate them at halftime," UIC head coach Tim Eatman said. "We just had to put the ball in the basket, so we took more of an attacking approach."
Coming out of the break, UIC went on a 10-0 run, led by six points from Chambers, to take a 34-26 lead that they would never relinquish.
The Flames, also received a solid performance from senior forward Stesha Rhodes (10 points).
With the victory, UIC improves to 13-13 overall and 5-9 in Horizon League play, while Butler falls to 2-24 overall and 1-14 in the league.
The Flames, who entered Saturday's contest as the Horizon League's No. 1 offensive rebounding team, used that to their advantage as they recorded 20 offensive boards to Butler's eight. For the game, UIC out-rebounded Butler, 45-28.
"I was impressed with our defense," Eatman said. "I think it showed our resiliency after such an emotional loss to Wright State on Thursday evening."
Tiffany Smith led Butler with 16 points, followed by Nancy Bowden (12 points) and Sarah Bolten (10 points, 10 rebounds).
The Flames will be back in action on Thursday night, as they will host Detroit at the newly renovated UIC Pavilion at 7:00 P.M.
