ISU women's first-half lead evaporates in lopsided loss to UIC

Jan. 28—The second half of Sunday afternoon's Missouri Valley Conference women's basketball game bore little resemblance to its first half.

And that was a problem for the host Indiana State Sycamores.

Illinois-Chicago exploded for 30 third-quarter points, erasing an 30-26 first-half ISU lead and then breezing to a 76-48 victory.

Reserve freshman Keslyn Secrist delivered the Sycamores' only double-figure scoring output with a career-high 14 points. Senior teammate Mya Glanton led the Sycamores with eight rebounds. ISU hit all 12 of its free throws in the game, but just 16 of 60 (27%) of its field goals.

By contrast, UIC hit 54% of its shots from the field in the game, as well as 15 of 17 free throws. Makiyah Williams led Illinois-Chicago with 18 points off the bench in just 22 minutes of action.

The loss dropped ISU's records to 7-12 overall and 3-6 in the MVC. Illinois-Chicago improved to 12-7 and 5-3, moving into a tie for sixth place with Northern Iowa, its upcoming opponent on Wednesday.

Secrist's performance came in 13 minutes of duty off the bench. The guard from Draper, Virginia "really, really played good defense," Sycamore interim coach Deidra Johnson said, noting Secrist's 8-for-8 effort at the free throw line. "[She] has been progressing and working really hard in practice."

Secrist sensed UIC's defense roadblocked her outside shooting. "I just knew I wasn't getting the open jumpers or the open 3s I wanted to get," she said. "So I heard Coach say, 'Attack the paint.' And that's what I did."

Indeed, Secrist provided ISU its last hope for a win Sunday. She hit two free throws and then followed up that with a slick, driving bank shot to slow the Flames a bit, cutting the Sycamore deficit to 40-34 with 3 minutes, 26 seconds left in the third quarter. Alas, though, ISU scored only once more before the fourth quarter started, and ISU was behind by 20 at that point.

"I was very disappointed in our second half, particularly in the paint," Johnson said. UIC got 24 of its second-half points inside the lane.

Inside play dominated the first half. In the first two quarters, UIC got 20 points from the paint, while ISU scored 12 inside the lane. Neither team scored off a fastbreak in the first 20 minutes, which ended with the Sycamores leading 30-26.

Ironically, 3-point shooting gave ISU the lead and helped secure it. The second quarter began with identical scoring exchanges. Sycamore guard Ella Sawyer swished a 3-pointer, and Illinois-Chicago guard Danyel Middleton hit a layup. Sawyer then repeated her 3, and Middleton responded with another layup. ISU led 18-15.

That led to a 12-2 Sycamore run featuring 3-pointers from forward Chelsea Cain and guard Kiley Bess, as ISU led 30-19.

The Flames' interior attack continued, including a three-point play and forceful rebound basket by Keimari Rimmer. UIC's 7-0 run finished the first-half scoring and saw limited success with a full-court press. In the half's last minute, the Sycamores stole the ball, but missed a pair of shots as the second quarter expired with the home team leading by four.

"I thought when we went into the lockerroom, we got satisified and complacent, and didn't come out of the lockerroom ready to play," Johnson said.

UIC kept its run going to start the second half. The Flames scored the third quarter's first 11 points. ISU went stone cold, missing its first seven shots. The Sycamores' halftime lead evaporated into a 37-30 deficit with 4 minutes, 41 seconds left in the third quarter.

The Flames only got hotter. The only Sycamore interruption of UIC's offensive explosion was a four-point spurt from Secrist on a pair of free throws and a layup to pull within 40-34. Illinois-Chicago finished the third quarter on a 16-0 run, outscoring ISU a whopping 30-6 in those disastrous 10 minutes. It ended with UIC up 56-36 and the game out of reach for ISU with one quarter still to play.

"[The Flames] played with a lot of toughness today, and I thought we played with toughness in spurts," Johnson said.

Sunday's loss sends the Sycamores into an open week of practices before next Sunday's 1 p.m. duel with Illinois State in Hulman Center, wrapping up the three-game homestand. The defeat leaves Indiana State still among the MVC's bottom five teams with 11 games to play before the conference tournament March 14-17 at Moline, Ill.

Despite the Sycamores' sub-.500 record, they're aiming at a strong finish to the regular season and MVC Tournament, and envision a berth in a postseason tournament.

"Our goal is to make it to postseason," Secrist said.

From the coaching standpoint, Johnson wants "to continue to see us grow, continue to see us connect and peak right around February — have a really, really good February. I want to continue to see us grow, so we can really make some noise right around March."

Mark Bennett can be reached at 812-231-4377 or mark.bennett@tribstar.com.