Freshmen
Sophie Tirtiaux and
Katie Donovan scored 12 points apiece to lead the White team to a 33-12 win over the Red in a 20-minute womens basketball scrimmage Saturday at Illinois State Universitys Redbird Arena.
Tirtiaux, a native of Belgium who played high school basketball at Urbana (Ill.), made all three of her field goals in the first 10-minute half of the game to help the White to an 18-6 advantage at the intermission.
Donovan, a Canadian from Kingston, Ontario, converted four straight second-half driving shots for the White team, which also got six points from sophomore forward
Stacey Nickerson and three from sophomore guard
Taren OBrien.
Kristi Larson, the teams only senior, led the Red team with 6 points. The Red struggled with its shooting, hitting just 5 of 24 field goals (.208) to Whites 12 of 21 (.571).
Redbird coach
Jenny Yopp said part of the shooting woes was the nervousness of playing for the first time this season under game conditions, which included a crowd estimated at more than 500 people.
Certainly, there was some nervousness out there, said Yopp. Except for the nerves, you saw what we see in practice: intensity and effort.
Sophomore guard
Jaci McCormack, ISUs No. 3 scorer last year in conference play, participated in the scrimmage, but likely will miss the entire 2001-02 season following scheduled surgery on a right ankle originally injured last season. Junior guard
Steph Reichle who had minor arthorscopic knee surgery 10 days ago, sat out the scrimmage but should be ready by the regular season.
Not having Jaci will hurt, said Yopp, but were more concerned about her coming through this surgery with a full recovery and becoming the kind of basketball player we know she has the talent to be. Its hard to sit out; no player wants to do that, but, at this point, we know it will take three months for her to be ready and we dont think it would be in her best interests to rush her.
RED (12):
Harakas Harnisch 0-2, 0-0, 0;
Huston 0-4, 0-0, 0;
White 0-1, 0-0, 0;
Nickerson 2-4, 0-2, 4;
McCormack 0-3, 0-0, 0;
Blade 0-0, 0-2, 0;
Larson 2-5, 2-5, 6. Totals 5-23, 2-9, 12. Three-pint shots: Huston 0-2, McCormack 0-2, Harnisch 0-1.
WHITE (33):
OBrien 1-3, 0-0, 3;
Donovan 5-6, 2-5, 12;
Tirtiaux 4-5, 3-4, 12;
Blade 2-4, 2-2, 6;
Kutschinski 0-2, 0-0, 0:
Thomaskutty 0-1, 0-0, 0. Totals: 12-21, 7-11, 33. Three-point goals: OBrien 1-3, Tirtiaux 1-2.
