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Lewis & Clark surges past ICC
Trailblazers use 23-2 blitz to gain upper hand in regional grudge match
January 21, 2009
By BEN DIGGLE
Reprinted with permission of the Journal Star
This time, however, Lewis & Clark, the top seed in the 2008 women’s region tournament, avenged the loss to Illinois Central College with a 66-63 win over the host Cougars.
ICC (16-4) was done in by two L & C surges.
Early in the first half, ICC built a 35-25 lead behind seven points from freshman Taylor Welch.
But the Trailblazers (15-3) closed the half on a 17-2 push over the final five minutes of the first half.
Leading the way were a pair of sophomore forwards — Jessica Moore and Lindsey Rujawitz.
More started the surge with a pair of free throws at the 5:02 mark and finished with eight points in that span. Rujawitz added four points as the Trailblazers made seven consecutive shots to take a 42-37 lead into halftime.
“We needed this win for regionals,” said Rujawitz, who finished with 21 points and six rebounds. “We all started working together and everybody stepped up.”
L & C added to its lead by scoring the first six of the second half to push the lead to 48-37.
But ICC overcame a cold shooting effort — 28-for-70 — to cut the deficit to two, 54-52 with just over nine minutes left. Unfortunately, the Cougars missed three straight chances to tie and the lead never dipped below three again.
“Other than Haley Jones, we didn’t have people stepping up and looking to score,” ICC coach Steve Garber said.
Jones, a freshman, scored 18 to lead the Cougars.
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