By IlliniGuys Staff

March 4, 2026

(Cover photo courtesy Illinois Athletics)

INDIANAPOLIS - Destiny Jackson scored a career-high 21 points and dished out five assists as she and Illinois opened the Big Ten tournament with an 82-70 victory over Wisconsin.

The freshman from Chicago Whitney Young High School hit 11 of 12 from the free throw line in the game and scored nine points in the 4th quarter to keep the Badgers at bay.

Berry Wallace celebrated her All-Big Ten First Team selection this week by scoring a team-high 22 points as Illinois (20-10, 9-9 in Big Ten) earned its third 20-win season in the four years of Shauna Green as coach. Green earning her 83rd win to tie Laura Golden for the second most coaching win in program history.

Wisconsin (13-17, 5-13 in Big Ten) opened the second half on an 8-2 run to close the halftime gap to just 43-42. But Illinois answered with a 19-6 spurt, led by a basket and two free throws from Jackson to close the period.

Cearah Parchment scored 14 and Lety Vasconcelos had 12 points off the bench, but the Illini suffered through a cold shooting night from the three point arc. Illinois connected on just 2-of-19 of their treys, the first time in three tries this season that they won a game while failing to hit at least a trio of three-pointers.

The win likely solidifies an at-large NCAA Tournament bid later this month. It will be the program's first repeat appearance in the NCAA since making four straight trips from 1997-2000 under coach Theresa Grentz.

Jackson, Parchment, and Vasconcelos each grabbed six rebounds for Illinois, which advances to the second round of the tournament to face 7-seed Michigan State on Thursday. The Spartans beat the Illini 81-75 in East Lansing on January 4th. That is a 5:30pm CT tipoff and can be seen on Big Ten Network.

Gift Uchenna scored a game-high 24 points for the Badgers.

Stay with IlliniGuys.com for complete coverage from the Big Tournament at Gainbridge Fieldhouse.