Campus Chronicle

Issue date: 11/30/09 Section: Sports

Media Credit: UICFlames.com Women's basketball beats Niagara, 77-59, at UIC Pavillion on Wednesday Nov. 25.

Returning from the grueling crucible of two tough losses in Minnesota last week, the UIC women's basketball team finally started to look refined the night before Thanksgiving as they lit the paint on fire and delivered a golden victory over Niagara at the UIC Pavilion.

The 77-59 victory for the UIC Flames (1-4) over the Purple Eagles (10-5) was punctuated by three double-doubles, a 60-37 rebounding advantage, and a dominant 7-0 blocking differential.

Sophmore Jasmine Bailey led the rebounding effort with a career high 15 rebounds added to her 13 points, with Senior Cassie Johnson close behind with 14 rebounds and 13 points. Senior Jessie Miller had a whopping 25 points and 10 rebounds, rounding out this extremely rare trifecta of double-doubles.

The first half started off pretty tight and saw 4 lead changes that left the Flames down by 5 points with 6:40 left in the half. Then, Coach Lisa Ryckbosch tried something a little different, pairing up 6'2" Freshman Lauren Gatto with Johnson, another 6'2" center, under the basket and the momentum of the game began to shift.

Johnson, Gatto, and Bailey worked the boards while Miller worked the perimeter, turning that 5 point deficit into a 38-33 lead when the buzzer ended the half. Gatto ended the night with a solid 6 points and 7 rebounds in 17 minutes.

Looking ahead, Coach Ryckbosch said she plans on developing this matchup further, "As much as Jas is amazing in there sometimes, she's still only 5'8" and to be able to match up bigger kids, I definitely would like to have the flexibility to have a bigger lineup if we need it."

The Flames came out hot in the second half, raining in a 12-3 run that doused any hope Niagra may have had of a victory. UIC dominated under the basket again, out-scoring Niagra 24-2 in the paint, and finishing the game on a 16-6 run.

With a 40.8 percent field goal percentage, this game marked the end of a shooting drought for UIC, having only averaged 32.8 percent over the last 4 games. Coach Ryckbosch said her team performs better all around once they have that confidence boost of shots finding their mark.

"We've really struggled at the offensive end, and I didn't think that would last," Ryckbosch said with satisfaction, "I think we have good shooters; we have good players, talented players, and just really tried to get back to basics and do the little things."

If you want to help keep that momentum going, come to the UIC Pavilion tonight at 7pm and cheer for the Flames as they attempt to shoot the Dayton Flyers out of the sky.

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