West Cook News

WIU Falls on Senior Day

Western Illinois women's basketball played on Saturday (Feb. 25), falling 82-74 on senior day to the North Dakota State Bison. With the result, WIU officially concludes the 2022-23 regular season ranked No. 9 in the Summit League and will open this year's conference tournament at 12:30 p.m. on Friday (March 3).
 
"NDSU is a really good team whose height bothers everyone in the league besides maybe South Dakota State and it definitely bothered us around the basket. We shot around 36% for the game and just seemed a little rushed and weren't going up as strong as I'd like," head coach JD Gravina said. "We fought hard, we battled, and were probably the aggressor… but when they needed big shots, they made every one and when we needed big shots we missed them, and that ends up being the end of the game.
 
"I'm proud of our effort. One thing I told our players at the end of the game is that we've had great crowds over the last five or six games which, for our record, I think says a lot about our community and how they value what they see us doing out there," Gravina added. "I thought a lot of our bench players came in and played really well which is big for us and for some of those kids to get a little bit of confidence."
 
Jayda Adams started her second-consecutive game as the Bison opened the game up with hot shooting, out-scoring Western 10-3 in the opening three minutes of play. After Elizabeth Lutz, Addi Brownfield and Anna Deets combined to shoot 5-6 at the line during the middle portion of the quarter, NDSU held a 20-12 advantage after 10 minutes of play.
 
"The fact that (Jayda Adams) is able to play makes me really proud. She's come so far to get to this point where she's physically able to get on the court and play well," Gravina said. "Having sat out for so long she doesn't have the same rhythm that she used to but I think it's still been impressive that she's been out here playing."
 
The Leatherneck offense came alive in the second, responding to an early Bison run with a 12-3 run of its own in the latter portions of the quarter. Addi Brownfield cut the lead to single digits with 2:35 to go with some fancy dribble moves that led to an elbow jumper, contributing to a 24-point second quarter that saw Western trail by just four points, 40-36, at the halftime break.
 
NDSU once again came out firing early in the second half, out-scoring Western 8-0 in the first two minutes of play before Jada Thorpe got on the board with a layup; Thorpe's layup ignited a five-minute stretch where the Leathernecks out-scored North Dakota State 14-7. After Kennedy Flanagan shot 2-2 at the line with 2:43 remaining in the third, NDSU held a 55-50 lead.
 
Both teams traded buckets early in the fourth and the Bison took a 10-point lead with 6:56 remaining but, much like it did earlier in the game, Western Illinois stormed right back. Thorpe hit two triples during an 11-4 run and, after Brownfield sank two shots at the line, Western Illinois was within three points, down 75-72, with four minutes remaining in the game. NDSU then shot 3-5 from the field and 1-1 from deep in the final minutes of the game, riding out an 82-74 victory.
 
Anna Deets led the team with 25 points and seven rebounds, shooting 8-17 from the field, 3-5 from three-point range and 6-7 at the line. Brownfield finished with 15 points and connected with seven of her eight free throw attempts, also finishing with four steals. Mallory McDermott scored nine in a career-high 30 minutes off the Western Illinois bench while Thorpe would finish with eight points on an efficient 3-6 shooting. Kennedy Flanagan had seven points, five rebounds and two steals.
 
"Obviously Anna played really well. I thought some of our younger kids and some of the others who normally don't get to contribute as much did too. Allie Meadows, Kennedy Flanagan and Mallory McDermott, that group came in and really sparked us along with Anna, Addi, and Jada Thorpe," Gravina said. "Jada hit some shots, hit a couple threes to spark us, so it's nice when your bench can pick you up. We got in a big hole out right from the start and then after halftime halftime but I think it's really impressive that we were able to bring in kids and get better, bring up the level of intensity and crawl back into it."
 
Saturday's contest was the final home game in the Western Illinois career of Elizabeth Lutz, who now sits in sole possession of the all-time record for appearances by a Leatherneck women's basketball player with 142. Her 3,333 minutes of game time is fifth-most by any Leatherneck in program history while sitting at fourth in made three pointers (166) and sixth in total steals (224).
 
"E just brings so much to us off the court. As a coach you love every kid but she's one of those kids you just have a really good relationship with. I trust her with my life, her loyalty is off the charts to the program, to our coaching staff and to her teammates," Gravina said. "It hasn't been an easy five years but she's played in just about every game, all-time leader in appearances, started a ton of games, 1,000-point scorer, all that for an undersized guard from California, Mo. - I think that's pretty impressive."
 
As a team, Western Illinois shot 23-63 (36.5%) from the field and 8-21 (38.1%) from deep, continuing the season-long trend of success at the free throw line with a 20-24 (83.3%) performance. The Leatherneck defense combined 10 steals with one block to force 17 Bison turnovers, converting those into 20 points off turnovers and five fast break points. With nine offensive rebounds, Western scored 28 points in the paint and was bolstered by a strong effort by the bench, which finished with 41 points.
 
Saturday's game was the last at Western Hall for the Leathernecks in the 2022-23 season, who head up to Sioux Falls, S.D., to play in the 2023 Summit League Women's Basketball Championship next Friday (March 3). WIU enters as the No. 9 seed and will play No. 8 St. Thomas in the tournament's opening game, set to tip off at 12:30 p.m. at the Denny Sanford PREMIER Center. 

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