#1 Women’s Basketball wins top-10 battle with #9 Lincoln Land

Springfield, IL – 4:49 PM CST

A key top-10 battle loomed at Cass Gym in Springfield on Saturday afternoon, as the top-ranked ICC Cougars (22-1) took on the ninth-ranked Lincoln Land Loggers (20-2). It’s not very often that you get two 20+ win teams in the same gym with a full month of basketball still left, so this one was looking like a good one going in.

Right out of the gate, neither team would budge, as expected. Playing a mere short drive from her hometown of Rochester, sophomore Madison Faulkner had a quality 6-point first quarter. Summer Stoewer (Fr. – Normal Community HS) drained a three as well. Mentioning Stoewer’s three is critical, mainly because of what was to come.

The Loggers were working it inside early, not enough to necessarily be the only looks they were getting, but the post play of Katryel Clark was certainly a factor. She got two to go in the opening 10 minutes.

One team had to have the edge at some point, but after the first quarter, all the Cougars had was a one-point lead, 15-14.

Maybe it just took a quarter for the ICC offense to kick into gear, because you can’t do much better than they did in the second.

Stoewer and Emma Henderson (So. – Tuscola HS) were feeling it in this ten minutes, hitting six from behind the arc. That impressive shooting output turned a close game into a game in which the visiting Cougars had a large amount of momentum, as one may expect is the case when you score 26 points in a quarter.

So, the Cougars would take a 41-26 lead into the break. It would now become a matter of whether or not Lincoln Land had one last comeback in them, or would the Cougars run away with it. It was the first option.

Behind the aforementioned play of Clark, the Loggers got eight third quarter points out of the freshman and Auburn, IL native. That was just part of ten total made field goals in the quarter by the hosts, but ICC was still hanging in there.

An eight-point quarter from Marquitta Easley (So. – Zion-Benton HS) wasn’t even half of the Cougars offense. Stoewer and Henderson each hit another three, and Jordyn Hare (Fr. – Macomb HS) and Abby Coates (So. – Metamora HS) also got shots to go. Yet despite the Loggers making a run for it, it was still a double figure advantage for the Cougars with just a quarter remaining, 63-50.

Enter free throws. Those free opportunities may just have been the key to the Cougars putting the foot down in this one. Stoewer and Easley combined for eight free throws in the final frame.

On top of that, Stoewer capped off a career-type game with six points off made field goals alone. The freshman was on fire from the start, finishing with a career-high 33 points. Sources believe that Stoewer may be the first player in the Redeker era to score 30 or more points in a game. Stoewer says it was a team effort, adding that it wasn’t the offense, but what got the offense to go.

“We were playing tough defense, and that led to offense. It just all kind of worked itself out.”

Coach Redeker says that the difference when nobody had true momentum was, in large part, the efforts of a single player, Katryel Clark.

“They’re a very good team. The second we let down, they came and took advantage of us. The Clark kid killed us inside.”

In the end, ICC held on for an 82-76 win. The win extends ICC’s winning streak to 22 games, and gives the Loggers their first home loss of the season and also ended their 12-game winning streak.

The game also saw the Cougars hit 10 threes in a game. Now ICC isn’t always a predominant three-point shooting team, but Redeker was appreciative of the Cougars’ efforts from three-point land.

“Well, Summer and Emma were in the zone. Summer, she’s as good of a shooter as we’ve seen. None of her shots even hit the rim when she shoots. Emma was locked in as well.”

Redeker added that it’s almost a domino effect when the confidence can start with one player and transfer to others on the floor.

“Let’s not forget, they were guarding Madison Jones. So they were not only having to do it on the offensive end, but they also did a good job defensively.”

Redeker says that her bench, which the team refers to as the “Blue Crew”, was a big factor as well.

“Our kids were really getting into the game. It was a total team effort.”

Stoewer says that it’s important to acknowledge this win, but also know that it’s just another game on the schedule as well.

“It’s incredibly important. Even if we’re up by a lot against a good team like that, we can’t just settle. We have to keep pushing.”

In case fans don’t want to wait too long for more of the #1 Cougars, you’re in good shape. ICC has all of Sunday without a game before a make-up game with John Wood takes place at 5:30 pm on Monday in Quincy.

#1 ICC Scoring: Summer Stoewer (33), Marquitta Easley (15), Emma Henderson (14), Madison Faulkner (6), Abby Coates (6), Jordyn Hare (4), Moriah Ward (2), Kathy Pinnock-Branford (2)

#1 ICC Team Stats: 21 2’s, 10 3s, 10-14 FTs, 20 fouls, 82 points

#1 ICC Individual Leaders: 2’s (Marquitta Easley – 6), 3’s (Summer Stoewer – 6), FT’s (Summer Stoewer – 5 for 5)