Illinois holds Missouri under 70 points and sees star guard Gretchen Dolan post a game-high 21 in a 70-62 road win over the Tigers.

December 10, 2025

(Cover photo courtesy Illinois Athletics)

Despite a late Missouri rally, Illinois calmly controlled the lead for 38 of the 40-minute affair to walk away with another quality road win against a power conference opponent.

Illinois led for all but one minute and 57 seconds of its 70-62 victory in the annual out-of-conference rivalry game against Missouri Wednesday night with junior guard Gretchen Dolan posting a game-high 21 points.

The Illini defense held Missouri (9-3) to 3 of 16 from the field in the opening quarter and forced eight of its 18 turnovers in the second quarter to take 34-26 halftime lead. The defensive execution, which is a point of emphasis of fourth-year head coach Shauna Green held Missouri perimeter scorer Shannon Dowell to just nine points on 2 of 11 shooting along with four turnovers. Wednesday night represented the first time in 26 games dating back to last season that Dowell failed to get to a double-figure scoring effort.

Illinois is now 63-11 since Green was hired to take over the program when holding teams under 70 points in a game and the Illini have held opponents under the 70-point mark in each game this season.

Dolan continues to have her best moments of this 2025-26 season in key non-conference road games. The junior from Buffalo went off for a career-day, tallying a career-high 25 points (the first 20-point game of her career) in just 27 minutes of play in Illinois' 23-point win at Florida State nearly a month ago. The 5-foot-11 guard was a three-level scorer on Wednesday night recording points in the paint, making a trio of three-point shots and getting the foul line as well.

The ninth win for Illinois (9-1) in its first 10 games represents the program’s best start to a season since they won 10 in a row to start the 1981-82 campaign when Green was just barely two years old.

Destiny Jackson played a new flawless floor game as the freshman point guard dealt out nine assists in 39-minute outing that included going 5 of 6 from the free throw line in the fourth quarter to secure the victory.

Missouri found the method for a comeback after halftime from the three-point line as the Tigers connected on 5 of 10 from beyond the arc in a 21-point third quarter. However, Missouri suddenly went cold with their perimeter shooting late as they connected on just 1 of 7 from the three-point arc in the final quarter.

While Missouri controlled the pact in their home arena, Illinois controlled the painted area as the Illini got 42 of its points near the basket and another 10 at the foul line. The Tigers were led by leading scorer Grace Slaughter’s double-double of 19 points and 10 rebounds but the third-year guard needed 16 shot attempts to get to that total.

Maddie Webber, the All-Big East Conference transfer wing from Villanova, recorded her sixth double-figure outing off the bench for the Illini with 11 points and three rebounds in 23 minutes.

Illinois will next put its seven-game win streak to the test on Sunday at State Farm Center in Champaign by hosting North Texas as the Mean Green already have a pair of losses to power conference opponents (67-47 vs. Texas Tech and 73-55 vs. then-No. 24 Oklahoma State). The game on Sunday (2 p.m. CST, Big Ten Network-Plus) will see Green going for her 200th career win as a Division I head coach.