ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – Jeliah Preston's jumper with four seconds left hit the front rim and rolled around the rim before falling off, giving Illinois the 68-67 win on the second day of the UNM Thanksgiving Tournament in Dreamstyle Arena Saturday afternoon.
Wichita State (0-6) wraps up the UNM Thanksgiving Tournament on Sunday vs. UC Irvine. The two teams will tip at 1 p.m. CT in Dreamstyle Arena.
Rangie Bessard scored a season-high 20 points on 6-of-13 shooting and 8-of-9 from the free throw line to go with seven rebounds. It marks her 14th career game with 20-plus points.
Diamond Lockhart scored 11 of her 18 points in the second half, including four straight in the final minute to put WSU ahead. It's the second straight game Lockhart has finished with a season high. She finished 7-of-16 from the floor and added four boards and three assists.
Playing in front of friends and family,
Sabrina Lozada-Cabbage put together her best game of the season, tallying 15 points and eight rebounds on 6-of-12 shooting. The Santa Fe, N.M., native played a season-high 31 minutes off the bench.
Cesaria Ambrosio made her first career start and finished with eight points and a game-high seven assists in 32 minutes.
Ali Andrews led all scorers with 26 points on an efficient 9-of-11 shooting and a 6-of-8 mark from downtown. Brandi Beasley and Kennedy Cattenhead added 15 and 10 points, respectively. The Fighting Illini's leading scorer and rebounder coming into the game, Alex Wittinger, was held to just seven points and three rebounds in 25 minutes before fouling out in the final minutes.
Wichita State finished at 39.1 percent shooting and outrebounded Illinois, 35-31. Illinois (5-2) made 47.2 percent of its field goals, including 9-of-21 attempts from behind the three-point line.
1st Quarter
Bessard and Lozada-Cabbage combined to score the first 10 points for the Shockers to start the game. Bessard scored the first six and then Lozada-Cabbage checked in and tallied the next four.
The Fighting Illini used a 6-0 spurt to take a 19-14 lead into the start of the second quarter. Ali Andrews led all players with eight points in the first 10 minutes with a pair of three-pointers.
2nd Quarter
Another Andrews three-pointer for Illinois made it 27-19 with 4:30 remaining until halftime. The Shockers were shooting just 32 percent at the midway point, while Illinois had knocked down 50 percent of its tries.
Lockhart scored four consecutive for Wichita State and the Shocker defense held Illinois scoreless for more than three minutes to pull within four, but the Illini would score the final six points of the half.
Illinois took its largest lead of the half, 33-23, on Kennedy Cattenhead's drive and score just before the buzzer. Illinois' Ali Andrews led all scorers with 11 points in the first half behind a trio of three-pointers.
Bessard scored six of her team-high eight points in the first period and Lockhart added seven in the second. Lockhart's seven points and Bessard's layup to start the second quarter made up the WSU scoring in the period. It's the third time in four games Wichita State has been held to single digits in a quarter.
Illinois outshot the Shockers 48 percent to 30 percent thanks in large part to six treys, while WSU was just 1-of-8 from long range.
3rd Quarter
Wichita State opened the frame on a 14-4 run to tie the game at 37 with 4:54 to go. The Shockers got six points from Lozada-Cabbage and five from Ambrosio to spearhead the comeback.
The Shockers went on to outscore the Fighting Illini 23-15 in the quarter and trailed by just two, 48-46 heading into the final quarter.
WSU shot 50 percent from the field and held Illinois to just 5-of-15 in the frame.
4th Quarter
Illinois hit its first three field goals of the quarter to retain the lead, 55-49, at the 6:00 mark.
Both teams traded baskets over the next three minutes and then a Bessard jumper cut the Illinois lead to 62-58.
With less than a minute on the clock, the Shockers forced a big turnover and Lockhart converted with a pull-up jumper to pull within one point, 66-65, and only 46.3 seconds left.
Another steal and Lockhart score put Wichita State in front for the first time since the opening minutes of the game, 67-66. Illinois answered by converting at the free throw line after a WSU foul to go back in front 68-67.
Lockhart had a great look with 18 seconds left from the left elbow, but it rolled in and out. Illinois' Jaelyne Kirkpatrick missed both ensuing free throws to give the Shockers one more chance.
The Shockers drew up an under the basket inbounds that work to perfection, giving Preston a wide open 10-footer, but it wouldn't go down. Illinois grabbed the board and ran out the final seconds to escape with the win.
