Steph Reichle celebrated her return from knee surgery with 12 points and 5 steals, but it wasnt enough as the Chicago Challengers beat Illinois State 83-74 behind Ashley Berggren's 20 points in an exhibition college basketball game Saturday at Redbird Arena.
Reichle, one of the top freshmen in the Missouri Valley Conference last season before suffering a season-ending knee surgery, played her first collegiate game since the injury in January.
A former Illinois star, Berggren led the Challengers with 20 points. Ex-DePaul star Mfon Yudeka had 16 points and 9 rebounds as the Challengers pulled away by making 17 of 27 field goals in the second half, out-shooting the Redbirds .545 to .368.
Stacey Nickerson had 12 points before fouling out with 4:11 left to match Reichle for team honors. Nadia Peruch and Kellie Johnson had 10 points each for Illinois State.
A sloppy first half featured 29 fouls and 37 free throws, with the end result a 35-35 tie after each team led by as many as eight. Illinois State had its biggest lead at 33-23 on a layup by Stacey White with 3:48 left. But Berggrens jumper answered that and started the Challengers on a 10-2 rush to finish the half.
Ex-Marquette star Abbie Willenborgs bucket inside started a 10-0 Challenger run in the first four minutes of the second half, putting Chicago up 45-35. Illinois State eventually got as close as oneon a Peruch free throw with 9:08 left, but that was as close as it got.
Illinois State executed well on offense and their pressure hampered our guards ability to get us into our offense, said Challengers coach Karen Stack Umhauf, whose team previously beat Western Michigan and Northern Illinois. I thought Illinois State played us the best of any of the three teams weve played.
Redbird coach Jenny Yopp, who at times had five freshmen on the floor, was happy with her teams effort and aggressiveness.
We saw aggressiveness and unselfishness and effort and teamwork, said Yopp, who did not have junior center Kristi Larson (foot injury) or starting center guard Shandeen Hunt (wrist) on the court. We have to learn that rebounding is part of defense and we have to do both of those things for 40 minutes.
The Redbirds play their final exhibition game at 7 p.m. Wednesday against a National Womens Basketball League elite team at Redbird Arena.
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