Hawkeyes Points in the Paint Too Much for Young Fighting Illini 

By Nick Jenkinson/Excel H Sports

   #2 Seed Iowa Hawkeyes beat the #10 Illinois Fighting Illini 64-58 in the Quarterfinals of the Allstate Big Ten Women’s Basketball Tournament Friday Evening at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. Iowa improves to 25-5 and will play in the second semifinal tomorrow at 4:30 PM. Illinois is 21-11 on the season and will return to Champaign-Urbana to await their post-season tournament fate a week from Sunday Night.

   Ava Heiden led the Hawkeyes with 16 points, Hannah Stuleke scored 13 points, Chit-Chat Wright added 12 points, and Kylie Feuerbach added 10 points along with 12 rebounds from Journey Houston. Iowa went 26-55 from the field for 47%, 4-14 from three-point range for 28% and 8-11 from the free throw line for 72%. Iowa had 36 rebounds, 20 assists, 7 blocks, 2 steals and 16 turnovers. Iowa scored 36 points in the paint, 18 points off turnovers, 5 second chance points, 5 fastbreak points and 4 bench points.

  Jasmine Brown Hagger led Illinois with 22 points, Berry Wallace added 13 points, and Destiny Jackson scored 10 points. Illinois finished 21-63 from the field for 33%, 5-22 from three-point range for 22% and 11-14 from the free throw line for 78%. Illinois had 33 rebounds, 12 assists, 6 steals, 2 blocks and 11 turnovers. Illinois scored 26 points in the paint, 17 points off turnovers, 11 second chance points, 9 bench points and 7 fastbreak points.

   Iowa led 21-11 at the end of first quarter as the Hawkeyes were 8-14 from the field for 57% 1-3 from three-point range for 33% and 4-4 from the free throw in the first quarter. Illinois struggled as they were 5-18 from the field for 27% and 1-6 0for 16% from three-point range. Iowa led 37-23 at Halftime as the Hawkeyes outscored the Fighting Illini 16-12 in the second quarter. The Hawkeyes were 14-27 from the field for 52%, 3-6 from three-point range for 50% and 6-7 from the free throw line for 85%. Illinois was 10-31 from the field for 32%, 2-10 for 20% from three-point range and 1-2 from the free throw line for 50% in the first half.

  Iowa led 53-31 at the end of the third quarter as the Hawkeyes used a 7-0 run to end the quarter as Illinois scoreless for four minutes. Iowa outscored Illinois 16-8 in the third quarter. The fourth quarter was a different story as Fighting Illini mounted a comeback that fell short. Illinois had a 17-2 run in the last 4:22 and 15-0 in the 3:43 as they outscored the Hawkeyes 27-11 in the fourth quarter and held the Hawkeyes scoreless for 3:59 as they committed four turnovers down the stretch.

   Iowa survives to advance to the Semifinals, and a lot of fans made the trip from Iowa City to Indianapolis including former player Kate Martin and Gabbie Marshall. Illinois fans made the trip over as well as they are two of the top traveled fanbases in the Big Ten and with no Indiana teams left in the tournament Iowa along with Ohio State will have the majority of the crowd that is here in Indianapolis.