Illinois on tap for women's basketball today
The CMU women’s basketball team will play a non-conference game in the state of Illinois for the second time in a week.
It plays Illinois at 8 tonight in Champaign, Ill.
Coach Sue Guevara brushed off the consecutive games to Illinois and the travel as factors for the team.
“It’s just another road trip,” she said. “If you look at our conference schedule, we have to go to Buffalo (Feb. 4) and Akron (Feb. 6).”
Guevara named senior Kendra Holman the starting point guard for the game. Freshman Jalisa Olive will come off the bench after starting and scoring five points against DePaul. Both players saw about the same amount of playing time in the game.
Junior Shonda Long, senior Britni Houghton, sophomore Skylar Miller and senior Kaihla Szunko will round out the Chippewas’ starting lineup.
Long scored a career-high 30 points Friday while Houghton, a preseason first-team All-Mid-American Conference honoree, scored 18. Szunko accounted for 10 of the team’s 31 rebounds.
Experienced Illini
The Fighting Illini finished the 2008-09 season ninth in the Big Ten, going 5-13 in the conference and 10-21 overall.
Illinois returns eight of its nine players from last year, including a senior front-court duo of 6-foot-3-inch center Jenna Smith and 6-foot-1-inch forward Lacey Simpson, who averaged 18.5 and 11.5 points per game, respectively.
“They are big, very athletic, long and will get after you, especially in the half-court,” Guevara said.
Smith, an All-America candidate, was named preseason First-Team All-Big Ten three consecutive years and scored in double figures in 41 consecutive games.
Six freshmen were added to the Illinois roster this season, two of which are already making an impact in Champaign.
Guard Karisma Penn led Illinois in scoring Sunday with a game-high 18 points, while forward Adrienne Godbold scored 14 points in its 85-53 win against Siena. The Fighting Illini lost their regular season opener at Temple, 82-78, in overtime.
CMU (0-1) is 2-3 all-time against the Fighting Illini, losing the last meeting 82-44 on Dec. 28, 2004, at Illinois.
The game will be streamed live on BigTenNetwork.com.
