PEORIA, Ill. – The No. 2 NIACC women’s basketball team dropped a 66-62 decision to No. 5 Illinois Central Friday in the semifinals of the Illinois Central Cougar Holiday Tournament.
NIACC, which trailed 25-12 after the first quarter and 37-29 at the half, suffered only its second loss of the season.
Since the 2013-14 season, NIACC and Illinois Central have met 11 times with the Cougars winning 6 and the Lady Trojans winning 5.
NIACC (13-2) faces No. 10 Owens CC in the consolation game at 2 p.m. on Saturday. No. 8 Kirkwood faces Illinois Central in the 4 p.m. Saturday title game.
Kirkwood stopped Owens CC 77-63 in the other semifinal game on Friday.
In Friday’s contest against Illinois Central, NIACC’s Adria Stewart converted a layup to make it 61-58 with 1:27 to play in the contest and Mikayla Homola drained a 3-point goal with :19 left to make it 64-62. Illinois Central made two free throws with less than :10 left to make it the final margin four points.
NIACC, which had topped Illinois Central 99-82 in its season opener, was led by sophomore UU Longs with 18 points, three assists and two rebounds. Sophomore Kelsie Willert scored 15 points and Homola scored 10 points.
Also for the Lady Trojans, Laker Ward had six rebounds, three assists and two steals. Khalilah Holloway had six rebounds and two steals.
Illinois Central was led by Madison Faulkner with 18 points. The Cougars also received 15 points from Bailey Larsen and 10 points from Kellyn Maynard.
NIACC’s 2017-18 season (13-2 overall)
NIACC 99, Illinois Central 82
NIACC 90, Bay College 61
NIACC 134, Milwaukee Area Tech 45
NIACC 121, Harper College 28
NIACC 98, Iowa Western 89
NIACC 128, Riverland CC 36
NIACC 102, Rock Valley College 76
NIACC 112, Lake Region State College 57
NIACC 105, Grand View JV 73
Northeast CC 67, NIACC 54
NIACC 111, Central CC-Columbus 51
NIACC 78, NDSCS 77 (OT)
NIACC 106, Dakota College-Bottineau 47
NIACC 122, Kalamazoo Valley CC 58
Illinois Central 66, NIACC 62
