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Women’s basketball knocks off Illinois State

After losing all but one of their first 17 games, the women’s basketball team has tripled their season win total, thanks to a pair of wins on the road.

Following their win at Loyola, the Braves were able to squeak by rival Illinois State last Friday 58-55 for their second consecutive win.

Despite blowing a double-digit lead, the Braves were able to rally behind timely shots by sophomore Whitney Tinjum and junior Fantasia Vine.

Vine hit a layup with a minute and a half left in the game, and Tinjum’s steal led to two free throws that put the game away late.

“I thought we did a great job of forcing them to go to their weaknesses,” Brooks said. “They aren’t a great outside shooting team, and we knew there were a couple people that we knew we had to key on. We stayed in our zone and forced them to take shots that were contested.”

Brooks continued to talk about the change in their defensive philosophy. Because of the offensive struggles, Brooks decided to implement more zone defense to simplify the game on that end of the court. That plan seemed to work well against the Redbirds, as the Braves were much more effective on the offensive side of the ball, shooting 43.6 percent from the floor.

“It was very timely that Anneke [Schlueter] hit some big shots, and Whitney hit a dagger three there toward the end,” Brooks said. “It was taking advantage of those opportunities when they presented themselves from an offensive standpoint to have two people that shot really well extended some things and made it hard for them to guard us.”

Tinjum has been a contributing component in the Braves increased offensive production, tallying double digit points in three straight games.

“My teammates have been giving me the ball in places where I can be effective,” Tinjum said. “The coaches have really been positive, telling me, ‘keep shooting, keep shooting.’”

In the end, Tinjum’s 17 points against Southern Illinois (SIU) last Sunday weren’t enough to topple the Salukis. The women’s ability to hit shots seemed to disappear when they traveled to Carbondale as the Braves shot 37 percent from the floor and lost 76-59.

However, the game was closer than the final score showed.

A three-point attempt by Tinjum with four minutes left rattled out, and instead of cutting the SIU lead down to five, the Salukis got a breakaway layup off the rebound and pushed their lead to 10.

“That play was it,” Brooks said. “We were that close. I thought we battled back. I think the biggest hurdle we faced in the game was that we missed easy bunnies, we missed layups, and we didn’t rebound the way we had in previous games.”

Head coach Michael Brooks gathers the team together to discuss strategy in a December loss to Chicago State. Brooks and the Braves won two of three road games. Photo by Dan Smith.
Head coach Michael Brooks gathers the team together to discuss strategy in a December loss to Chicago State. Brooks and the Braves won two of three road games. Photo by Dan Smith.

The Braves will try to bounce back at 7 p.m. tonight in Renaissance Coliseum against Indiana State.

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