Northwestern University Athletics
Northwestern
University of Illinois
Women's Basketball Falls to Illinois, 75-60
3/2/2001 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
March 1, 2001
EVANSTON, Ill. - The Northwestern women's basketball team saw its season come to a close Thursday night, as the Wildcats lost to Illinois, 75-60, in the first round of the Big Ten Tournament Grand Rapids, Mich.
The Wildcats end the 2000-01 campaign with a 4-23 overall record. Illinois improved to 15-14 and will play third-seeded Wisconsin in the second round Friday.
Northwestern scored the first three points of the game and took off from there, eventually swelling the lead to 15-8 before the game was seven minutes old. Illinois tightened up the defense after that, though, outscoring the 'Cats 11-2 to gain a 19-17 lead. Both teams went ice cold at that point, as the score remained 19-17 for 5:16 before Illinois' Dawn Vana finally broke through with a layup at the 5:31 mark. That spurred another Illini run, and the half ended with Illinois up, 31-22.
Northwestern was not done yet, though. The teams traded points for most of the second half, before a five-point run by NU made the score 59-53 with just 4:11 to play. The teams again traded some points, making the score 63-57 with 2:02 to play, before Illinois put the final nail in the coffin with a nine-point run over the next 1:13. Dana Leonard stopped the bleeding with a 3-point basket, but Illinois scored the game's final three points for the win.
Emily Butler, who earned All-Big Ten honors earlier in the week from the coaches, led NU with 22 points, while Dana Leonard hit four treys en route to 13 points. Tami Sears was also in double figures, with 10 points, and added six rebounds.
For Illinois, Allison Curtin led four players in double figures with 20 points and also added 10 rebounds. Ann O'Neil had 18 points, while Iveta Marcauskaite had 16 and Dawn Vana scored 14.
