B1G Ten Women’s basketball tournament Day Two

Game One:   Maryland (18-12, 9-9) 75   Illinois (14-15, 8-10) 65

Illinois went cold in the third quarter and Maryland took advantage as they overcame a two-point, halftime deficit to go into the final stanza with a five-point advantage.

For the game, Maryland was led by Bri McDaniel’s 20 points, 10 rebounds and three steals. McDaniel had help from Jakia Brown Turner scored 13 and pulled down eight boards, Briane Alexander added twelve points and six rebounds, Shyanne Sellers scored eleven points and a team leading eight assists before fouling out.

The Terps got a big boost off the bench from Allie Kubek. Kubek scored 13 points on four of ten and three of four from the line and added six rebounds.

Maryland also received a huge basket from Faith Masonius who scored on a layup to put them up 67 to 61.

Illinois was led by Makira Cook who scored 17 points but shot only seven of twenty-four attempts but did lead the team in assists with eight.

Sophomore Camille Hobby scored sixteen and pulled in seven boards.

Genesis Bryant added 13 points while Senior Kendall Bostic posted another double-double with eleven points and boards before fouling out.

Adalia McKenzie went scoreless for the Illini.

Maryland moves on to take on the number one seed Ohio State (25-4), Friday, March 8, 2024. Ohio State is ranked third in our Excel H Sports rankings.

(The following is credit sourced to the University of Illinois Athletics)

The Fighting Illini led by as many as 14 in the first half, but it was not enough to take down the Terrapins.

Four Orange and Blue scorers registered double-digit points, while the team registered 40 points in the paint against a Big Ten team for the sixth time this season.

Kendall Bostic registered her sixth consecutive double-double, finishing with 11 points and 11 rebounds before fouling out late. Bostic also made two steals, the 11th time in her last 12 games that she has secured at least one takeaway.

Makira Cook scored a team-high 17 points, her sixth straight game in double figures. Dishing out eight assists for the second time in her last three outings, Cook also grabbed five boards.

Camille Hobby tallied eight of her 16 points in the first quarter, and she hauled in seven rebounds. Hobby started 5-for-7 from the field through the first 20 minutes, and she tied her career-best block mark with two swats, both of which came in the first half. She also made two steals.

Genesis Bryant poured in 13 points, while she also dished out four assists. Bryant also tacked on two boards in her team-high 39 minutes of action.

Gretchen Dolan added five points and four rebounds off the bench, while Shay Bollin connected from 3-point range for the third straight game.

• Shauna Green is now:

• • 36-25 at Illinois
  • 163-75 as a Division-I coach
  • 192-100 overall

• The Illini’s 36 overall wins in Green’s first two seasons are the program’s most over a two-year span since the 2006-07 and 2007-08 campaigns, when Illinois recorded 39 combined victories.
• Illinois vs. Maryland: 0-17 (17th meeting)

• The Illini held the Terrapins to 10 points in the first quarter, the fewest allowed against Maryland across their three meetings this season.

• • Illinois shot 68.8% from the field through the opening 10 minutes.

• Illinois is now 4-5 when wearing blue uniforms this season.
• The Illini are 2-9 in nationally televised contests this season.
• UI is now 1-3 in neutral games this season.
• The Illini are now 7-11 in games starting before 5 p.m. CT this season.
• The Illini are now 1-1 in March.

QUOTES

Head coach Shauna Green

Opening statement:

“Obviously came out with a great start. I loved our start, 24-10. Executed on both ends of the floor, did a great job in terms of game plan and execution of that.

“Then, obviously we knew Maryland’s really good, so they’re going to make a run, but then I thought the difference maker was obviously they had 24 points off of turnovers and the rebounds. We held them to zero o-boards in the third, and then there were seven in the fourth when it was still a possession or two game.

“Give Maryland credit. They executed. They made plays when they had to. We were still right in there. We just didn’t make plays when it came down to it and gave up too many offensive rebounds. In order to win big games this time of the year, you can’t do that on the boards.”

On her takeaways from the game:

“We can take a lot away from this. Obviously, we’ve learned a lot this year, and a lot of times we’ve learned from some adversity. I think just the consistency piece. You know, Maryland, what I’ve always loved about Brenda’s teams are their toughness, and their physicality, and just that grit they have to them. You’ve got to have that. You’ve got to have that for 40 minutes. You especially need it in March, and I thought at times we just have to be more consistent with that.

“There are times they just drove us down, and we’ve got to have more resistance. Just the consistency piece is the number one thing that we’ve got to continue to improve on throughout games and obviously game to game.”

On the fan support throughout the season, including in Minneapolis:

“Obviously I wasn’t there before, but I’ve heard it was really bad, and there weren’t a lot of people at the games. I think that now we’re creating some buzz and some momentum, and people enjoy watching this team play. Obviously, last year, we had some really good turnouts and then this year, I thought Nebraska was a great turnout and a great sign for that.

“Hopefully, people continue to come, because if we want to continue to try to be in the top half of the Big Ten consistently, you need your fan support. You need a home-court advantage. They were that against Nebraska and really helped us get that win.

“I want to continue to grow it, and hopefully we can continue to have those numbers climb every year.”

On the team’s focus given the possibility of postseason play:

“That’s something that I’ve got to watch and think through. We’ve got to really just take a look in the mirror at all of us, like what do we really want out of this postseason if we have the opportunity to play in it? Do we want to go and try to, if it’s the WBIT or whatever, make a run at that? What’s our mindset?

“I think, right now, we need a couple days to just reflect, and to watch, and to see, and then we’ll address that as we move forward.”

Kendall Bostic

On the fan support during the game on Thursday:

“We definitely appreciated it. It’s cool to have a lot of people come up to this game, especially since it’s in Minnesota, and just having the band, the cheerleaders, all of them come up. We had a little walk-out this morning, so it was pretty cool.

“We appreciate their support through the ups and the downs. It was nice to have a good solid fan base here today.”

 

Game Two:  Nebraska (20-10, 11-7) 64 Purdue (13-18, 5-13) 56

Nebraska tied the game with Purdue right before the half to make the score 25 a piece.

Then Nebraska outscored Purdue 39 to 31 behind the playmaking and shooting of Jazmin (Jaz) Shelley and Alexis Markowski.

Adding a hot hand was Callin Hake who scored 15 points on five of eight from the floor that included three of six behind the arc.

Shelley would score 19 points on six of twelve from the floor, four of nine behind the three-point line, include seven boards and assists.

Markowski added 12 points, seven rebounds and hand out six assists for the game winning Huskers.

Purdue was led by last season’s Illinois Miss Basketball, Sophie Swanson as she tickled the twine for a game high 25 points that included seven of nine from three-point land.

Abbey Ellis ended a brilliant career at Purdue with eleven points but suffered from the floor by going five of sixteen.

B1G Ten Co-Freshman of the Year, Mary Ashley Stevenson would score eight points and pull down five boards.

Jeanae Terry ended her career with four points and eleven boards before fouling out.

Madison Layden also ended her career scoring two points on one of nine from the floor.

Nebraska moves on to take on the fourth seeded Michigan State (22-7), Friday, March 8, 2024

Nebraska is ranked #23 and Michigan State #25 in our Excel H Sports rankings.

Game Three: Penn State (19-11, 9-9) 80 Wisconsin (13-16, 6-12) 56

Penn State looking for a NCAA bid took care of business Thursday evening in Minneapolis as they downed Wisconsin 80 to 56.

The Nittany Lions opened up a first quarter lead they never relinquished.

Kylie Lavelle led the Lions in scoring with 14 on six of seven shots from the floor and those were coming off the bench.

Ashley Owusu scored 13 points and six boards, McKenna Marisa scored ten with five assists and Lelani Kapinus added 10 in the win.

Wisconsin was led by Ronnie Porter’s 13 and Sophomore Serah Williams double-double, ten points and ten rebounds. This gave Williams 16 consecutive double-doubles breaking the record of one of the best to ever play in the B1G Ten, Megan Gustafson of Iowa.

Sonia Copeland added ten points.

Penn State now moves on to face the second seeded Iowa Hawkeyes, 26-4.

Iowa is ranked third in our Excel H Sports rankings.

Game Four:   Michigan (19-12, 9-9) 76 Minnesota (16-15, 5-13) 57

Higher seeded Michigan wins easily over Minnesota in the late game.

All higher seeded teams have won their respective games.

Michigan started strong by outscoring Minnesota 23 to 12 in the opening quarter and posted a 37 to 24 halftime margin.

Michigan would continue their lead through the balance of the game.

Michigan would be led by Laila Phelia with 23 points on seven of seventeen from the floor. Aiding the cause were Lauren Hansen with 14 points on five of thirteen shots, Cameron Williams off the bench with 11.

Jordan Hobbs would assist on seven baskets while Elissa Brett would grab six boards.

For the homestanding Gophers, Amaya Battle would score 22 points on seven of fifteen shots while Ayianna Johnson would add 12 points and Ajok Modol would add eleven.

Mallory Heyer, 6’1, Sophomore would claim 17 rebounds for the Gophers.

Michigan moves on to play third seeded Indiana (24-4), Friday, March 8, 2024.

Indiana is ranked 13th in our Excel H Sports rankings.