EVANSVILLE, Ind. (March 21, 2024) – The UIC women's basketball team (18-16) produced a fiery start to the second half, but it wasn't quite enough to seal the deal, as Southern Indiana (25-6) rallied in the final two minutes to pull out a 69-64 win on Thursday night in the first round of the WNIT at Screaming Eagles Arena in Evansville, Ind.
Junior forward
Makiyah Williams (Chicago, Ill./Trinity/Marquette) led all UIC scorers with 17 points and three rebounds coming off the bench. Graduate student guard
Keimari Rimmer (Chicago, Ill./Proviso East/DePaul) netted 10 points with eight boards, while senior
Sara Zabrecky (Munster, Ind./Munster/St. John's) also scored 10 points while knocking down three three-pointers.
COACH'S COMMENT
"I'm disappointed and proud in the same breath. I'm happy with our battle all season long. We made history this year," said head coach
Ashleen Bracey. "I have a ton of respect for Southern Indiana. To earn a bid to the NCAA Tournament and not be able to play in it (due to NCAA reclassification rules) is tough, but they have winning habits, they play hard, and they play together. We matched their toughness, (but) we just made some poor decisions down the stretch that really hurt us."
FIRST QUARTER (18-14, USI)
- USI's Madi Webb scored the first eight points for her team, but back-to-back threes from Zabrecky and Rimmer kept UIC close.
- The Flames tied up the score (8-8) at 7:05 after senior guard Danyel Middleton (Chicago, Ill./Bolingbrook/Marquette) stole the ball and finished the fast-break layup. That was short-lived as the Screaming Eagles went on an 8-2 run.
- Southern Indiana got out to a six-point lead until Williams hit a mid-range jumper with a little over a minute remaining in the quarter (16-12).
- UIC came within four (18-14) with seconds left on the clock after a steal and basket from Middleton.
SECOND QUARTER (31-30, USI)
- Southern Indiana initiated the scoring for the second quarter, with an "and-one" to make the score 21-14.
- Senior guard Kristian Young (Indianapolis, Ind./Lawrence North) came down on the other end and beat the shot clock with a jumper, chipping away at the deficit (21-16) at 8:13.
- At 5:14, senior forward Jaida McCloud (Peoria, Ill./Richwoods) was in the right position to grab an offensive rebound and put the ball back in to again trim the margin to five (27-22).
- USI forced a UIC timeout after running the floor for an open lay-up in transition. However, graduate student guard Dais'Ja Trotter (Louisville, Ky./Seneca/Cincinnati) came out of the quick intermission to hit a three, cutting her team's deficit to four (29-25) with 2:47 left in the quarter.
- Down six with under a minute remaining, UIC scored the last five points of the quarter to close within 31-30 going into halftime.
THIRD QUARTER (50-46, USI)
- The Flames exploded from the gate with a 9-0 run to start the second half, taking the lead 20 seconds into quarter after Rimmer made two free throws (32-31).
- The run was capped off by a three-point dagger from Zabrecky, which made it 39-31 UIC and led to a Southern Indiana timeout.
- USI forced back-to-back shot clock violations as the fans in Screaming Eagle Arena proved to be a tough crowd, contributing to UIC going scoreless for nearly four minutes as the home team rallied back.
- USI converted the last shot of the quarter as the buzzer sounded, giving the hosts a four-point lead (50-46).
FOURTH QUARTER (69-64, USI)
- UIC came within two points after Williams made two free throws (50-48) before USI answered with a basket of its own.
- Both teams saw a scoring drought for two minutes until Williams grabbed an offensive rebound and scored at 7:13 (52-50).
- USI extended the lead to four (54-50), before Williams connected on consecutive mid-range jump shots to help draw the Flames within 56-55 with 4:37 remaining.
- Zabrecky's third made shot from beyond the arc gave UIC a 59-58 lead with 2:06 to play.
- The Screaming Eagles went on a 9-0 run late in the game to break away from the Flames, hitting a tie-breaking three-pointer with 1:32 left and then making 6-of-8 free throws down the stretch.
- With 25 seconds left, Young found Rimmer on the block from an out-of-bounds play to come within five (67-62) and Middleton went coast-to-coast in the final seconds for another basket, but UIC could get no closer than five points.
BEYOND THE BOXSCORE
- The Flames collected 43 rebounds, with 21 of those on the offensive glass, which tied for second-most in the season (also Nov. 12 in the Flames' 73-70 victory at Milwaukee).
- UIC's 11 steals marked the 11th time the Flames collected double-digit steals this season.
- After knocking down three shots from beyond the arc, Zabrecky finished the season with 30 made triples and was the team's leading three-point shooter for the second year in a row.
- Williams finished the season with 25 double-digit scoring games, with 14 of those games featuring at least 15+ points.
For more information on UIC women's basketball, fans are encouraged to visit UICFlames.com, or follow the Flames on social media through X (@UIC_WBB and @UICFlames) and Instagram (@uic_wbb and @uicflames).
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