By IlliniGuys Staff

January 28, 2026

(Cover photo courtesy Illinois Athletics)

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Cearah Parchment's already won three Big Ten Freshman of the Week honors this season.

And Wednesday night, she made a bid to take home another.

The 6-foot-3 Ontario native scored 19 of her game-high 26 points in the second half to key an Illinois rally that fell short as 2nd ranked UCLA posted an 80-67 win.

Parchment grabbed a team-best 7 rebounds before fouling out in the final minute.

UCLA (20-1, 10-0 in Big Ten) brought the conference's best defense into Champaign, giving up just 56 points per game and holding opponents to 35.7 percent field goal shooting. But the Illini, playing without starting guard Gretchen Dolan for a fourth straight night, bested those numbers, hitting 14-of-31 shots after halftime to shoot 37 percent from the field for the game. It's the fifth time in eight games this month that Illinois (15-6, 5-5 in Big Ten) has failed to connect on 40 percent of their shots; they are 2-3 in those games.

The Bruins' vaunted defense harassed Illinois leading scorer Berry Wallace to a season-worst 3-of-17 shooting for 11 points, nine points off her season average and her lowest total in a Big Ten game this season. The Illini held UCLA to just 1-of-10 from three-point range, the lowest total this season for the Bruins, who were led by All-American Lauren Betts' 23 points and 9 rebounds.

Destiny Jackson scored 15 points and dished out 6 assists with just one turnover and Maddie Webber scored 12 points off the bench.

Illinois falls to 1-5 against teams in the Associated Press Top 25 this season.

The Illini return to action on Sunday when they visit 25th ranked Washington (5pm CT, FS1).

Stay with IlliniGuys.com for complete postgame coverage from State Farm Center.