March 9, 2011
Final Stats
Final Stats in PDF Format
CLEVELAND - For the third consecutive season, the UIC women's basketball team was eliminated from the Horizon League tournament by the Cleveland State Vikings at the Wolstein Center , this time by a score of 61-58.
The Flames (14-16) received a career-best 28 points from Jasmine Bailey, who added a game-high 11 rebounds for her eighth double-double of the season and Briana Hinkle added her third double-double of the season with 13 points and a career-high-tying 10 rebounds, but it was not enough to overcome a strong second-half effort from the field by the Vikings (20-10).
With the game tied at 45, Destinee Blue scored on a feed from Shawnita Garland to take a two-point lead and ignite a 14-5 Cleveland State run over the next 5:01 to build the lead to nine and seemingly put UIC behind them.
As had been the case all season, the Flames did not back against the adversity. UIC kept clawing its way back and following another strong lay-up underneath by Bailey with just over 20 seconds to play, sliced the deficit to three. The St. Louis native was fouled on the play, but she missed the free throw and the Vikings Janelle Adams grabbed the rebound. Adams was quickly fouled by Bailey and she, too, missed the front end of a one-and-one and the Flames Cree Nix hauled down the rebound.
Cleveland State forced a held ball on the defensive end with 11.7 to play, but the possession arrow favored Flames. Following a timeout and trailing by three, 61-58, Taylor Foulks was the first player to get a look at the basket; the sophomore's long three-pointer was off, but the rebound found it's way to the hands of Briana Hinkle. The fifth-year senior guard, who had attempted only seven three-pointers all season, hoisted a shot from downtown, but it fell short and Garland secured the rebound and the victory for the Vikings.
Cleveland State shot 53.6-percent (15-for-28) in the second half, while the Flames shot just 31.4-percent (11-for-35). The Vikings only had four second-half turnovers after committing eight miscues in the first half. UIC protected the ball, as well, committing just three turnovers in the final 20 minutes of play.
Garland tied Bailey with a game-high 28 points, while Adams hauled down team-best 10 rebounds for Cleveland State.
"We got out to a great start and we had great energy," said UIC head coach Lisa Ryckbosch. "We did so many of the things that we felt going into tonight we needed to do to win, but as the half wore on, we wound down a little defensively."
The Flames got off to a fast start and controlled the tempo for much of the first 20 minutes of play. Bailey connected on a lay-up 12 seconds into the game and though the score would be knotted up four times, the Vikings never led through the first half. UIC would lead by as many as seven in the first half with just under seven minutes to play in the half, 23-16. Garland would drain back-to-back three-pointers about 90 seconds later to tie the game at 24, but that was the last tie score in the first half.
"Jazz [Bailey] was huge. She plays so hard that's it hard for her to go for 40 minutes. We have to have other people play huge, too. We only had two people in double figures and then the most anyone else had was five."
Bailey had a game-high 14 points in the first half, while Hinkle was also in double figures with 11. After making a backdoor cut to the basket and collecting a pretty feed from Kristin Petrinec and converting the left-handed lay-up, Hinkle reached the exclusive 1,000-point mark for her career. She becomes the 15th player in UIC history to achieve that feat and passed Jacquay Holmes (1,001 points) for 14th all-time in the Flames record book and finished her career with 1,004 points.
Hinkle also had team-highs with four assists and four steals on Wednesday.
"I'm proud of our kids," said Ryckbosch in defeat. "Each of them gave it their best shot and I feel very sad for the seniors, especially, because they've been great kids and put their hearts and souls into this program. All three [Hinkle, Kristin Petrinec and Shanice Sadler] have overcome different forms of adversity, so especially for them it's hard."
Cleveland State advances to the semifinals of the Horizon League tournament where they will play the Butler Bulldogs on Friday. Wright State also advanced to the semifinals where they will likely go up against the host Green Bay Phoenix.
