The Western Illinois women’s basketball team played host to DII side Illinois-Springfield Tuesday night, in the second of three straight games to be played at Western Hall. Thanks to one of WIU’s more impressive shooting performances, they were able to dominate throughout as they came away with a 91-51 win.
So efficient was the Western shooting performance, that Elizabeth Lutz was the only Leatherneck to take more than 6 shots or miss more than 3. As a team, WIU shot 54% from the field, a performance that included 2 quarters (1st and 3rd) where the Leathernecks shot better than 60%. The three-point performance was arguably even more impressive, as the Leathernecks shot just shy of 60% from deep. The performance included a first quarter where the Leathernecks caught absolute fire to the tune of 9 threes on a scorching 75%. They simply could not be stopped and were rolling on a different level Tuesday night.
Olivia Kaufmann led the way in scoring for WIU, with 17 points as she missed only one shot on a 5-6 (FG), 2-2 (3PT), 5-7 (FT) performance. Grace Gilmore, Annabel Graettinger and the aforementioned Lutz also got into double digits for WIU, while Evan Zars led the rebounding performance with 7 boards. No Leatherneck played more than 24 minutes, as the lopsided nature of the score allowed Head Coach J.D. Gravina to stretch his bench out a little more than usual. This was the first game WIU was able to flex its muscle the way we’ve seen in the past as they showed how entertaining and efficient this team can be.
WIU will be at home one more time this week, as they host Indiana State on Thursday, November 14, with a tipoff set for 5:30 PM. You can hear that game and R.J. Larson’s call live on 104.1 WMQZ, a part of the Leatherneck Sports Network.