Nov. 17, 2010
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CHICAGO - The UIC women's basketball team built a 21-point lead and sustained a late charge by the BYU Cougars on Wednesday night to earn its first home win of the season, 59-56.
Less than 48 hours after dropping a disappointing contest to Oakland on Monday night, the Flames (2-1) came out on Wednesday with an aggressiveness that they had rarely displayed in the early going on the 2010-11 campaign. By turning up the heat on defense and applying full-court pressure, UIC was able to force 12 first-half turnovers which coincided with a 12 point lead at the break, 32-20.
"It started on the defensive end," said Flames head coach Lisa Ryckbosch. "We didn't have any energy defensively on Monday and we felt like we gave up too many easy ones whether it was getting lost in transition or forgetting to block out, we gave up too many easy points.
"Our team responded tremendously yesterday in practice. They were truly angry that they blew that game and they responded with great focus and effort tonight. The defensive energy was good and they missed their first few shots; that gave us confidence and we took it from there," said Ryckbosch.
On the heels of a 12-4 run to start the second half, the Flames built the lead up to 20 points with just under 12 minutes to play in the contest. The Cougars responded with a 6-0 run, but UIC countered and eventually built the lead to as many as 21 with 5:17 to go in the game.
BYU still wasn't out of it, even with five minutes to go. The Cougars mounted a ferocious 15-0 run to close the gap to six with 1:18 to play. Jasmine Bailey was fouled and made the front end of a one-and-one for the Flames' first point in over four minutes.
BYU still wasn't done. A three-pointer from senior Mindy Bonham with 21 seconds to play cut the lead to one, 57-56. Bailey was fouled quickly and this time she made a pair from the charity stripe to extend the lead to three. The Cougars got the ball with 14.7 seconds to play, but the stifling UIC defense held tight and the Cougars were sent home with their second loss of the young season.
"When you play good teams, you don't expect that they're going to lay down and die when a couple of things go wrong," said Ryckbosch. "We were ready for that before the game even started. Once the game started we reminded them to stay hungry. I was proud of how we hung together and withstood their run."
Jasmine Bailey recorded her second double-double of the season with 17 points and 11 rebounds to lead UIC. Shameia Green added 12 points off the bench, while Briana Hinkle and Katie Hannemann poured in eight apiece. Taylor Foulks had seven points and tied a career-high with seven boards.
BYU's Coriann Fraughton had 17 points and 12 rebounds to lead her team.
The Flames will be idle until Tuesday, Nov. 23 when they wrap up the three-game homestand against the DePaul Blue Demons at 7 p.m. The evening will begin with a pre-game meal and chalk talk sessions by both Doug Bruno and Ryckbosch in the Dragon's Den at 6 p.m. Following the game, the excitement will move to Lizzie McNeil's Irish Pub in the Streeterville neighborhood for a post-game celebration. The event is being held to benefit the Somebody's Hero Chapter of the Leukemia Research Foundation in honor of Kathy Meyers-Grabemann, a former three-sport standout at Loyola and teammate and best friend of Coach Ryckbosch, who lost her battle to the crippling disease in 1996.
Tickets to the game are only $10, $7 of which will be donated directly back to the Somebody's Hero Chapter of the Leukemia Research Foundation if the tickets are purchased in advance. Tickets for the pre-game meal are $10 and there will be a cash bar at Lizzie McNeil's. It promises to be a memorable evening, so don't miss out and purchase tickets now.
For tickets or more information, please call Jonathan Butler in the UIC Ticket Office at 312-355-0283, or click on the order form below.
