University of Northern Iowa
Illinois
UNI Takes Championship with 71-47 Win Over Illinois
11/27/2005 7:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Nov. 27, 2005
Boulder, Colo. - University of Northern Iowa women's basketball took the Coors Classic Championship with a 71-47 win over Illinois Saturday evening. Senior Cassie Hager and junior guard Jessie Biggs were named to the all-tournament team and Hager took MVP honors, scoring a game-high 16 points and nine rebounds. Biggs added 14 points with two treys and was a perfect 4-for-4 from the charity stripe.
Hager also tied the career mark for Missouri Valley women's basketball blocked shots, having 221 to her name.
Junior forward Tara King had a season-high 15 points and seven rebounds. The Panthers outrebounded the Fighting Illini 34-29 which accounted for 17 second chance points, nine more than Illinois accumulated. UNI also had 28 points off turnovers, forcing 24 Illinois blunders. Prior to the game, Illinois was averaging 65.3 points per game.
The Panthers shot 44.2 percent from the field, a season-high, and 72.7 percent from the free throw line. On the season, Biggs (12-12) and King (10-10) both have shot 100 percent from the charity stripe.
UNI never trailed in the contest and opened up with a Hager layup from the left. The Panthers built a five-point lead in the first five minutes and led by as many as 15 in the first half. UNI went on 8-0 and 10-0 runs throughout the half. They found their three-point shot, getting treys from Larsen, Hager and Ollendieck. UNI has a season-high nine made shots from behind the arc in the game.
UNI took a 36-23 lead into the half and picked up right where it left off on the defensive front as the second half began. Illinois had six turnovers and seven missed shots in the first eight minutes of the second half as UNI went on a 16-1 run.
The Panthers improve to 2-1 and Illinois is now 2-2. UNI opens its home schedule against Murray State Wednesday at 7:05 p.m. in the West Gym.
"We felt it was very important for us to come out and establish the tempo of the game right at the start and early on, I thought we did a great job of executing our shots. We also complimented our offense by working very hard on the defensive end.
"We take so much pride in our defense. We were the top defensive team in the MVC and we know that we cannot duplicate some of the things we did a year ago. We are very fortunate to have a great shot blocker in Cassie. We do a lot of things with her. We got beat a couple times in transition but we did not give up too many easy baskets.
"Our kids tonight we really focused on what they needed to do. The important thing is to realize that we have to continue to get better."
19th Annual Coors Classic Results
Friday, Nov. 25 Illinois 62, Utah State 43 UNI, 74, Colorado 65 (OT)
Saturday, Nov. 26 Consolation: Colorado 73, Utah State 56 Championship: UNI 71, Illinois 47
All-Tournament Team MVP - Cassie Hager, UNI Jessie Biggs, UNI Lori Bjork, Illinois Jackie McFarland, Colorado Camille Brox, Utah State
