{"id":109379,"date":"2026-01-18T21:57:00","date_gmt":"2026-01-18T21:57:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/basketball.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2026\/01\/18\/late-defensive-stops-help-25-illinois-secure-in-state-win-over-northwestern-university-of-illinois-athletics\/"},"modified":"2026-01-18T21:57:00","modified_gmt":"2026-01-18T21:57:00","slug":"late-defensive-stops-help-25-illinois-secure-in-state-win-over-northwestern-university-of-illinois-athletics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/basketball.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2026\/01\/18\/late-defensive-stops-help-25-illinois-secure-in-state-win-over-northwestern-university-of-illinois-athletics\/","title":{"rendered":"Late Defensive Stops Help #25 Illinois Secure In-State Win Over Northwestern &#8211; University of Illinois Athletics"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div>\n<aside class=\"sidearm-story-template-text-aside\" aria-label=\"Related Sport Links\">&#13;<br \/>\n                        &#13;<\/p>\n<section class=\"sidearm-story-template-links\" aria-label=\"Story Links\">&#13;<br \/>\n\t\t&#13;<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"hide\">Story Links<\/h2>\n<p>&#13;<br \/>\n\t\t&#13;<br \/>\n        &#13;<br \/>\n   <\/section>\n<p>&#13;<br \/>\n&#13;<br \/>\n&#13;<\/p>\n<div class=\"sidearm-story-template-next-game hide-on-small-down\">\n<div class=\"postgame_1-2_nextgame\">\n<div class=\"sidearm-story-template-next-game-details\">\n<div class=\"sidearm-story-template-next-game-logo\">\n                \n            <\/div>\n<div class=\"sidearm-story-template-next-game-opponent\">\n<h2>Next Game:<\/h2>\n<p>at Nebraska<\/p>\n<p>1\/24\/2026 | 1 PM CT<\/p>\n<p>&#13;<br \/>\n                        Big Ten Network  &#13;\n                    <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"postgame_3_nextgame\">\n<div class=\"sidearm-story-template-next-game-primary\">\n<div class=\"sidearm-story-template-next-game-details\">\n<p>&#13;<br \/>\n                    Jan. 24 (Sat) \/ 1 PM CT&#13;\n                <\/p>\n<div class=\"sidearm-story-template-next-game-opponent\">\n                    <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"sidearm-story-template-next-game-opponent-logo\" src=\"https:\/\/d1iubivivot1gj.cloudfront.net\/images\/logos\/Nebraska_200x200.png\" alt=\"Nebraska\"\/><\/p>\n<p>&#13;<br \/>\n                        <span class=\"sidearm-story-template-next-game-opponent-text--atVs\">at<\/span>\u00a0<span>Nebraska<\/span>&#13;\n                    <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<p>     &#13;<br \/>\n                    <\/aside>\n<p><b>CHAMPAIGN, Ill. \u2013\u00a0<\/b>No. 25 Illinois used multiple big stops down the stretch to take down Northwestern in a gritty 74-71 win on Sunday afternoon at State Farm Center.<\/p>\n<p><dfn><a href=\"https:\/\/fightingillini.com\/sports\/womens-basketball\/roster\/berry-wallace\/15256\" rel=\"smarttag noopener\" rev=\"15256\" target=\"_blank\">Berry Wallace<\/a><\/dfn> secured a career-high\u00a029 points, scoring\u00a012 of the Illini&#8217;s 16 points in the fourth quarter, to help lead the Fighting Illini improve to 15-4 overall and 5-3 in conference play.<\/p>\n<p>The Orange and Blue had three players score in double figures, led by Wallace&#8217;s\u00a029 points and nine rebounds. <dfn><a href=\"https:\/\/fightingillini.com\/sports\/womens-basketball\/roster\/aaliyah-guyton\/15263\" rel=\"smarttag noopener\" rev=\"15263\" target=\"_blank\">Aaliyah Guyton<\/a><\/dfn> tied her season-best mark with\u00a013 points while making her first start of the campaign,\u00a0while\u00a0<dfn><a href=\"https:\/\/fightingillini.com\/sports\/womens-basketball\/roster\/cearah-parchment\/15260\" rel=\"smarttag noopener\" rev=\"15260\" target=\"_blank\">Cearah Parchment<\/a><\/dfn> registered\u00a0a double-double with 10 points and 11 rebounds.<\/p>\n<p>The Illini capitalized on their dominance on the offensive glass, turning 18 offensive rebounds into 23 second-chance points. Parchment pulled\u00a0down five offensive rebounds of her own, while Wallace and <dfn><a href=\"https:\/\/fightingillini.com\/sports\/womens-basketball\/roster\/lety-vasconcelos\/15255\" rel=\"smarttag noopener\" rev=\"15255\" target=\"_blank\">Lety Vasconcelos<\/a><\/dfn> each tallied four offensive boards.<\/p>\n<p><strong>How It Happened<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>After playing to an 11-11 tie early in the game, Illinois went on a 6-0 run with 2:54 left in the first quarter, culminating in a 3-pointer from <dfn><a href=\"https:\/\/fightingillini.com\/sports\/womens-basketball\/roster\/maddie-webber\/15264\" rel=\"smarttag noopener\" rev=\"15264\" target=\"_blank\">Maddie Webber<\/a><\/dfn>, to take a 17-11 lead.\u00a0Illinois eventually held a 21-17 advantage through the opening 10 minutes of play, with Wallace posting nine points in the frame.<\/p>\n<p>Northwestern rallied to take a 33-28 lead in the second quarter before Illinois went on a 12-0 run over the final four-and-a-half minutes of the half\u00a0to take a 40-33 edge into the break. Illinois dominated in the paint during the period, scoring 14 of its 19 points close to the basket.<\/p>\n<p>Illinois lengthened its lead early in the third quarter before going on a 7-0 run, punctuated by a 3-pointer\u00a0from Guyton, to expand its lead further to 54-41 with 3:38 to go in the third. The Illini advantage grew as large as 15 points in the quarter, though a 7-0 stretch from the Wildcats cut Illinois&#8217; lead to seven heading into the final frame.<\/p>\n<p>Wallace accounted for the Illini&#8217;s first eight points of the quarter, though the visitors reduced their deficit to a single point with just over seven minutes remaining. Despite a late Northwestern push, the Orange and Blue never trailed in the final period, holding the Wildcats without a field goal for the final 2:15 en route to victory.<\/p>\n<p>Next up, No. 25 Illinois hits the road for another ranked matchup, taking on No. 24 Nebraska on Saturday at 1 p.m. CT on Big Ten Network.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/fightingillini.com\/news\/2026\/1\/18\/womens-basketball-wallace-scores-29-points-in-illinois-74-71-victory-against-northwestern.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#13; &#13; &#13; &#13; Story Links &#13; &#13; &#13; &#13; &#13; &#13; Next Game: at Nebraska 1\/24\/2026 | 1 PM CT &#13; Big Ten Network &#13; &#13; Jan. 24 (Sat) \/ 1 PM CT&#13; &#13; at\u00a0Nebraska&#13; &#13; CHAMPAIGN, Ill. \u2013\u00a0No. 25 Illinois used multiple big stops down the stretch to take down Northwestern in a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":109380,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[9],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/basketball.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109379"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/basketball.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/basketball.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/basketball.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/basketball.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=109379"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/basketball.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109379\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/basketball.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/109380"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/basketball.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=109379"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/basketball.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=109379"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/basketball.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=109379"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}