Zora Skrabalova had 10 points and 14 rebounds for Illinois State, but it wasn't enough to keep the cold-shooting Redbirds from falling 71-46 to Illinois Sunday at Redbird Arena.
Tiffanie Guthrie and Cindy Dallas scored 16 points each to lead the Illini, 2-0, who shot just 38 percent from the field, but capitalized on 32 free throw attempts by making 25. The Illinois defense kept the heat on the ?Birds, who shot just 28 percent from the field for the game, 24 percent after halftime. Angeline Williams backed Dallas and Guthrie?s play with 14 points.
Michelle Harakas, who had 10 points, was the only other Redbird in double figures scoring.
Illinois got separation from the Redbirds, 1-3, fairly early in the game. Taren O?Brien?s three-point shot with 14:53 cut the Illini lead to 6-5, but that was all the Redbirds? got over the next six minutes as Illinois, fueled by six trips to the free throw line, took a 19-5 lead with a 13-0 run. The Illini shot 16 free throws in the first 14 minutes of the game, taking a 40-25 lead at intermission.
Illinois State?s defense got better in the second half as the Illini made just 8 of 29 field goals. But UI missed just 1 of 16 second-half free throws as the Illini pulled away to a comfortable lead early in the second half.
Illinois State coach Jenny Yopp was disappointed her team wasn?t able to execute its offensive game plan.
?We knew defense and rebounding would be keys and second-chance points would be critical for us,? said Yopp. ?We got our hands on a lot of opportunities for those in the first half, but couldn?t convert. When our perimeters aren?t scoring, we have to get the ball inside and we struggled there as well.?
Illinois coach Theresa Grentz thought her team was able to direct the flow of the game.
?Jenny (Yopp) and Illinois State had an excellent game plan and I was pleased that our defense was able to dictate the kind of game we wanted to play,? said Grentz. ?We have to press to be successful. We played the way we wanted to play and things came off our defensive pressure.?
Illinois State?s ?state rivalry week? continues. The Redbirds? next two games are on the road Thursday against Illinois-Chicago in the UIC Pavilion and Saturday at Northern Illinois in the brand new Convocation Center in DeKalb.
