By WJBC Staff
CHICAGO – The Illinois State women’s basketball team held a 61-60 lead with 1:24 remaining in the game, after senior Taylor Stewart knocked down 1-of-2 free throws, but the Redbirds could not close out Loyola Chicago, who scored on its next possession and hung on for the 64-61 victory Friday night in Missouri Valley Conference action inside Gentile Arena.
After Illinois State (4-9, 1-1 MVC) turned the ball over, the Redbirds forced a stop on the defensive end. With 18 seconds left, Illinois State called timeout to set up a play. Stewart missed a layup in traffic with 12 ticks to go, and the Ramblers (2-12, 1-1 MVC) gained possession on a jump ball.
The Redbirds were forced to foul Loyola twice to send the home team to the free throw line. The Ramblers made 1-of-2, which allowed Illinois State another chance. Senior Brechelle Beachum drove to the bucket, but her layup attempt was blocked and rebounded by the Ramblers.
Loyola went back down to the free throw line and split the freebies with a little over two seconds remaining to inch its lead to 64-61. Beachum threw up a prayer from half court that hit the backboard and ended the chance to force overtime.
The Redbirds started the game on fire, knocking down five out of their first seven shots from behind the arc to race out to a 15-6 lead nearly 4:30 into the contest. But Loyola answered with a 14-2 run to take a 22-17 lead with 6:32 remaining in the second quarter.
Illinois State responded in strong fashion and held the Ramblers scoreless the rest of the period while scoring the final 14 points to enter halftime leading 31-22. The four points allowed in the second quarter was the least amount the Redbirds have given up in a stanza all season.
The Rambles trimmed the lead to five to start the third quarter, before sophomore Katrina Beck nailed her third triple of the game to stretch the lead to 36-28. After Loyola moved back to within four, Illinois State had another answer, as senior Beachum delivered a trey ball to increase the advantage back out to eight at 40-32 with 3:46 left in the period.
The Ramblers methodically started to come back near the end of the quarter and eventually trailed the Redbirds, 44-42, heading into the final 10 minutes.
The fourth quarter was a back-in-forth battle, which saw 15 lead changes. Neither side led my more than two until the final outcome. Trailing by one with 2:30 left in the game, Stewart drained a three to give Illinois State a 60-58 lead, the only time during the stanza the visitors held a two-point advantage.
Loyola scored on its next possession to knot the game at 60-60, before Stewart was eventually fouled and made 1-of-2 from the line at the 1:24 mark.
Stewart scored her career-high 25 points on 8-of-13 shooting from the field, with the eight field goals establishing a new career best. She also knocked down 3-of-7 from distance and 6-of-8 from the charity stripe. Stewart scored 16 points after halftime.
Beachum added 16 points, six rebounds and a career-high six steals, while Beck chipped in 12 points and a team-high three assists. Junior Hannah Green rejected a game-high four shots, as the Redbirds finished with seven blocks.
Illinois State shot 38.5 percent (20-of-52) from the field and 8-of-26 from long range. But the Redbirds made only 13-of-20 from the free throw line and were outrebounded, 45-28, including 19-9 on the offensive glass, which led to a 14-5 deficit in second-chance points.
The Ramblers shot 40.4 percent (23-of-57) for the game, including 4-of-10 from three-point range and 14-of-22 at the line. The connected on 9-of-15 shots in the fourth quarter.
“I was disappointed in our defensive effort tonight,” head coach Barb Smith said. “I think we needed to be a little more aggressive more often. We couldn’t get stops when we needed to and started pressing on offense. We had a lot of silly fouls, and they went to the line too many times and had too many offensive rebounds.”
Kaitlyn Williams paced Loyola with 13 points, while Kiana Coomber and Brandi Seagars added 12 and 10 points, respectively. Both players also grabbed seven rebounds.
Illinois State returns to action Sunday, Jan. 8, when it travels to Terre Haute, Indiana, to take on Indiana State in conference action. Tipoff is slated for 1 p.m. CT inside the Hulman Center.
