Flames advance to tournament’s second round
Rachel Story breaks away against IPFW Wednesday at the Pavilion. Photo: Timothy Nguyen/UIC News
The fourth-seeded women’s basketball team (23-9) collected the first postseason victory in program history Wednesday with an 84-71 win over No. 5 Indiana-Purdue University Fort Wayne (15-15) in first round of the Women’s Basketball Invitational.
The Flames advance to the second round of the tournament, where they will meet the winner of the (1) Eastern Michigan/(8) Evansville contest Saturday or Monday.
Down 41-33 in the first half, UIC responded with a 19-2 run to take control of the contest. The Flames outscored the Mastodons, 49-30, in the second half and limited IPFW to 24.3 percent shooting after halftime.
Ruvanna Campbell picked up her 23rd double-double of the season with 23 points and 16 rebounds. Rachel Story scored 19 points to become the 20th player in program history to pass 1,000 career points.
Katie Hannemann (17 points) and Terri Bender (14 points) were also in double-digits for the Flames, who moved to 3-0 all-time against IPFW.
The Flames held the advantage in rebounds (49-37) and moved to 23-4 this season when winning the battle on the boards. UIC dominated inside with 44 points in the paint and 16 offensive rebounds.
UIC was 23-of-32 from the line, 50 percent from beyond the arc and 46.7 percent overall.
Campbell’s double-double is her 13th in the last 14 games. Over the last five games, Campbell is averaging 15.8 rebounds per contest. She has grabbed 397 rebounds this year and broke Sharon Carroll’s (1979-80) single-season program record by one rebound.
Story joined UIC’s 1,000-Point Club with her ninth point of the night, a layup with 17:01 left in the game. She is the only player scored 1000 points in two seasons.
Hannemann increased her career point total to 1,054 and her 588 career rebounds put her at No. 9 in UIC program history.
Bender collected her sixth double-digit effort over the last seven contests. She grabbed eight rebounds and dished out five assists.
