APPLETON, Wis. — The Illinois College women’s basketball team pulled away from Lawrence University in the final quarter Saturday and posted a 56-41 Midwest Conference victory at Alexander Gymnasium.
Brielle Greenleaf led Illinois College (4-2, 2-0 MWC) with 11 points, and Melissa Solorio and Jill Friedrich added 10 points apiece. Solorio completed a double-double with 10 rebounds.
Liz Arco paced Lawrence (0-5, 0-4) with 12 points, and she picked up nine rebounds. Andrea Wilkinson led the Vikings with 10 rebounds.
Illinois College took control of the game late in the second quarter and early in the third. The Lady Blues held Lawrence scoreless for a stretch of 9:32 that finally ended when Olivia Hoesley hit a 3-pointer with 5:43 left in the third quarter to cut the lead to 32-23.
Illinois College would push its lead back to as many as 14 in the third quarter, but a pair of free throws from Fanita Robins and a jumper from Patsy Kealey trimmed the margin back to 40-30 heading to the fourth.
The Lady Blues scored the first three points of the fourth quarter, but Robins answered with a 3-pointer to cut the lead back to 43-33 with 8:58 left in the game.
Illinois College then scored six of the game’s next seven points to build a 49-34 advantage. Lawrence never got closer than 13 points after that.
The Vikings fell behind 9-2 to start the game, but Lawrence battled back to cut the margin to 12-11 after the first quarter.
Lawrence took its first lead at 13-12 on Arco’s jumper to start the second quarter. The Vikings later went on a 7-0 run, capped by Kealey’s jumper with 5:15 left in the opening half, to grab a 20-18 edge. Illinois College then held Lawrence scoreless for the rest of the first half and led 28-20 at the break.