Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell University
Illinois-Chicago
Cold Shooting First Half Hurts Bucknell Women's Basketball in 70-62 Loss at Illinois-Chicago
12/28/2007 7:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Dec. 28, 2007
CHICAGO, Ill. - In its final road contest of the 2007 calendar year, the Bucknell women's basketball team lost to Illinois-Chicago by a 70-62 score Friday night at UIC Pavilion. The Bison, who fell to 4-8 on the season, shot 29.2 percent from the floor, but connected on 6 of 9 in the final minutes to cut the gap to eight points in the final minutes. Kesha Champion (Chesapeake, Va./Indian River) led Bucknell with 18 points, while Jessica Miller posted a game-high 21 points for the Flames.
Bucknell came out of the gate slowly in the first half, making just two of its first 19 field goals and 4 of 28 late into the half. It finished the first half at 5 of 32 thanks to a long jumper by Amanda Brown (Richardson, Texas/L.V. Berkner) with 25 seconds remaining to make the halftime score 32-16. The Bison trailed by as many as 18 points (32-14) in the first half.
UIC (4-7), which entered the game shooting under 35.0 percent this season, connected on 14 of 34 (41.2 percent) first-half field goals as it capitalized numerous fast break opportunities thanks to 10 turnovers by the Bison. The Flames had six steals at halftime, including a pair by Miller, who posted a team-high nine points in the first half.
Bucknell's 16 first-half points were its fewest in any half since posting 15 in the first half of a 57-38 loss to Marist last December.
Behind a pair of short jumpers from Lauren Schober (Chiacgo, Ill./Regina Dominican), who was playing in front of a hometown crowd of approximately 100 supporters, Bucknell outscored UIC 8-2 in the opening minutes of the second half to narrow the score to 34-24.
The Flames extended their lead out to a game-high 22 points after an 11-0 run in a span of less than 90 seconds. Miller had a three-point play to key the run and capped it off with another basket to make the score 48-26.
Bucknell later went on an 18-6 run of its own to climb to within 10 points (56-46) with just over four minutes to play. Champion registered 10 of her points during that stretch.
A combined three 3-pointers by Brown and Champion in the final two minutes helped the Bison cut their deficit down to eight points on three occasions, but the Flames made six free throws in the final minute to seal the game.
After shooting just 15.6 percent in the first half, Bucknell rebounded to make 16 of 40 (40.0 percent) in the second half. UIC shot 42.4 percent for the game with Miller's 8-for-13 performance leading the way.
The Bison posted 49 rebounds in the contest, including a game-high 12 from Hope Foster (Washington, D.C./Dunbar) before she fouled out in the final minutes. Brown added seven boards, while Kristina Collymore (Montclair, N.J./Montclair) and Champion each registered six to give the Bison starting backcourt 19 rebounds. UIC pulled down 42 rebounds with Miller and Cassie Johnson leading the way with eight apiece.
After turning the ball over 10 times in the first half, the Bison registered just six miscues in the second half, slowing down the Flames' up-tempo pace.
With her 18 points against UIC, Champion has now tallied 39 points over the last two games, the highest two-game total of her career.
Bucknell has now lost two straight games for the first time since Nov. 13 and Nov. 17. It had alternated wins and losses over the last nine contests.
Meghan Hutchens (13 points) and Briana Hinkle (11) rounded out the Flames to post double-figure totals in points.
Bucknell returns to Sojka Pavilion on Monday, Dec. 31, for its final non-league home game. The Bison will host Loyola (Md.) at 2 p.m.
