By IlliniGuys Staff

November 10, 2024

The Illini women's basketball team celebrated last spring's WBIT championship by raising the banner prior to Sunday night's game agianst Marquette. (Photo courtesy Illinois Athletics)

(Cover photo courtesy Illinois Athletics)

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Illinois women's basketball head coach Shauna Green says an unusually veteran roster required some unusual early-season tests.

The early result is something that has never happened before in program history.

Genesis Bryant scored a team-high 16 points and the Illini defense harassed Marquette into 36 percent shooting from the field and 16 turnovers in the 65-53 victory Sunday night, an evening punctuated by the raising of the program's first-ever tournament championship banner. Illinois won the inaugural Women's Basketball Invitational Tournament last spring.

The win gives Illinois (2-0) season-opening wins over a pair of power conference teams for the first time ever. The Illini upset 19th ranked Florida State 83-74 in their season opener Thursday night.

Green's crew will now wait to see if they land in the new Associated Press poll this week. Illinois hasn't been in the AP Top 25 before Thanksgiving since spending the first three weeks of the 2000-2001 season in the national rankings.

Illinois also struggled offensively, hitting just 28 percent from the field. But they made up the difference at the free throw line, where they went 31-of-35.

Adalia McKenzie added 12 points and Brynn Shoup-Hill 11 for the Illini. Kendall Bostic pulled down a team-best 10 rebounds before a State Farm crowd of 3,748.

Illinois opened the 1988-89 season with losses to #1 Tennessee and North Carolina, the last time they tried such an aggressive schedule. Green was a sophomore at Canisius College that season, on her way to become the school's all-time leading scorer.

This year's Illinois squad boasts four 1,000-point scorers, one of only four schools in Division I that can boast that kind of scoring power. though the shots weren't falling tonight.

Lee Volker scored a game-high 18 points for Marquette before fouling out.

Illinois returns to action Thursday when Eastern Illinois visits.

Stay with IlliniGuys.com for complete postgame coverage.