By IlliniGuys Staff

November 18, 2023

(Cover photo courtesy Illinois Athletics)

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Preseason All-American Makira Cook made her season debut, but Illinois committed a season-high 21 turnovers as 16th ranked Notre Dame took advantage in a 79-68 win Saturday afternoon.

It was the Citi Shamrock Classic and was played at the WNBA Washington Mystics' arena in Washington, D.C. It was also the first appearance on NBC for the Illini women's program.

Illinois (2-2) was led by another hot-shooting performance by Genesis Bryant.  The senior all-Big Ten pick scored 31 points for her second 30-point performance this season.  She hit for a career-high 32 points in the season opener against Morehead State.

The Illini looked out of sorts at the start, committing almost as many turnovers (8) as field goal attempted (9) in the first quarter.  They hit 6 0f 9 in the quarter, but trailed the Irish 21-16.

Cook, seeing her first action of the season after suffering an upper body injury in the exhibition game against Truman State on October 30th, managed just a single field goal in the first quarter.  She scored 8 of her 12 points in the 4th quarter as Illinois rallied from a 20-point deficit.

But the Illini couldn't overcome their mistakes and Notre Dame capitalized by scoring 31 points off Illinois turnovers, while Illinois managed just 14 points off Irish turnovers.  Bryant and Cook combining for 15 of those turnovers for the Illini.

Adalia McKenzie scored a season-high 17 points and led the team with eight rebounds.

Hannah Hidalgo and Maddy Westbroad led Notre Dame (3-1) with 24 points each.

Illinois has a week off for the Thanksgiving holiday before returning to action on Sunday, November 26th against Canisius at State Farm Center.  That's a 1pm tipoff and can be seen on BTN+.