West Central Reporter

Leathernecks Fall in Summit League Tournament

Western Illinois women's basketball played Friday afternoon (March 3), falling 50-61 to the Tommies of St. Thomas in the first round of the 2023 Summit League Women's Basketball tournament. The result officially draws the Leathernecks' 2022-23 season to a close.
 
"I mean if we hold a team under 39 points in three quarters of play, it just has to be a game that we can win," head coach JD Gravina said. "Credit to St. Thomas – they really shot it well in the second half... I think we've got to learn from that and find a way to not be as dependent on three-point shots and score both in the post and attacking the basket.

"The team played hard, they played hard all year, which I really appreciated," Gravina added.
 
Addi Brownfield returned to the starting lineup alongside Mallory McDermott, Elizabeth Lutz, Anna Deets and Alissa Dins as both Western Illinois and St. Thomas struggled to score the ball early, scoring a combined 21 points in the first 10 minutes of play. Lily Randgaard got on the board with a last-second wing triple with less than five seconds to go, and the Tommies held a 12-9 advantage after one quarter.
 
Anna Deets drew yet another charge in the second as both teams' shooting struggles continued, combining to go 6-29 from the field as St. Thomas held a five point advantage, 24-19, at the halftime buzzer.
 
The Western offense made some noise in the third and getting the team right back into the game. Elizabeth Lutz picked off a Tommy pass and went coast-to-coast for a bucket and capping a 9-4 Leatherneck run that leveled the score at 28 with 5:23 remaining in the quarter. St. Thomas responded after a timeout and held a six-point lead after the quarter's end before out-scoring Western 22-17 in the final period of play to take the 61-50 victory.
 
"Until the flood gates opened it was a low scoring game. We were going into the fourth quarter having scored 33 points and we've had games where we've scored more than that in one quarter alone," Lutz said. "I think we just had to have confidence in our abilities, think about things we've done before the season, during practice, during games and knowing that, we needed to keep getting shots up, keep being confident."
 
Mallory McDermott led the team in scoring with 11 points and a perfect 6-6 shooting at the free throw line, also setting a new career-best mark for rebounding with seven in her fifth start of the season. Lutz finished with 10 points, five rebounds and one steal in her final game as a Leatherneck, while Jada Thorpe contributed seven points, five rebounds and two steals off the bench. Anna Deets paired six points with four rebounds in a team-high 31 minutes, while Alissa Dins had six points, seven rebounds, two blocks and two steals.
 
"I think (rebounding) is important with a guard heavy team. We've all had to take a big jump in rebounding this year and make that a priority," McDermott said. "Tonight, especially when we're not scoring the ball, I just tried to make that a priority and hope the defense would fuel the offense."
 
Western Illinois shot 27.9% from the field and forced 16 Tommy turnovers with two blocks and three steals, converting those turnovers into 14 points off turnovers and seven fast break points. Western Illinois won the battle for the offensive glass, 12-11, scoring seven second chance points and 28 in the point.
 
Friday's loss officially concludes the team's 2022-23 season. 

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