Illinois wins inaugural WBIT, first postseason title in program history (2024)

INDIANAPOLIS — For the first time in program history, the Illinois women’s basketball team is crowned as champions.

Less than two years after taking over a program annually at the bottom of the Big Ten, Shauna Green and Illinois capped a sensational run in the inaugural Women's Basketball Invitation Tournament with a 71-57 victory over Villanova on Wednesday night at Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.

The Illini would out-rebound Villanova (22-13, 11-7 Big East), and force the Wildcats to take tough shots. Even a red-hot Lucy Olsen (23.6 ppg in the WBIT) wasn’t enough to stop Illinois (19-15, 8-10 Big Ten), the inaugural WBIT champions.

The Wildcats presented Illinois with its toughest challenge yet in its WBIT campaign. The Wildcats were one of the First Four Out of the NCAA Tournament, earning them a No. 1 seed in the WBIT. They took down Penn State in the semifinals.

The Wildcats would struggle to shoot from the field, managing just 32.3% from the field and 34.8% from three-point range. Illinois, in comparison, would shoot 45.8% and 53%.

Adalia McKenzie’s box score isn’t eye-popping, but she’s the player who got the defensive assignment on Olsen, who scored as many as 30 points in the WBIT.

“Honestly, I take pride on defense. Coach, when she puts me on the best player, I wanna be my best and lock the best player up and I just took a lot of pride in that and just stayed focused and did the best I could,” McKenzie said.

The Illini took command of the boards early on, out-rebounding the Wildcats 21-11 in the first half. Their seven offensive rebounds would also bring eight second-chance points. They’d finish the game with a 45-27 advantage on the boards.

Both teams were lethal from beyond the arc to start this one, but Villanova’s three-ball saw the Wildcats go on an 11-1 run to claim the lead. heading into halftime.

Whatever Shauna Green must have said at halftime worked. The Illini responded to open the second half with a 16-0 run to reclaim the lead, and they would never look back.

“I told them at halftime, ‘We’re right where we wanna be. We’re only down one possession. Come out and let’s continue to defend and do what we need to do,’ and they responded and did that,” Shauna Green said postgame.

“I mean, [when] we got that 11-point lead, they couldn’t even hear their own play [because] call the building got so loud,” Genesis Bryant told media after the game. “And once we got that lead, we didn’t give it up from there.”

The Illini would finish strong, outscoring the Wildcats 42-25 in the second half to erase a five-point halftime deficit.

The backcourt duo of Makira Cook and Genesis Bryant would combine for 44 of Illinois’ 71 points. Cook’s 27 would lead all scorers in the game.

The Champaign Room caught up with senior guard Jada Peebles on-court as she and her teammates were celebrating the win. Peebles, a fifth-year senior who has been at Illinois for her entire collegiate career, tore her Achilles in the team’s win over Northwestern in January, ending her season.

“It’s amazing,” senior guard Jada Peebles told TCR. “Sad but happy tears at the same time. To go off with a win, there’s no other thing you could ask for.”

For the second time in three days, the navy blue seats of Hinkle Fieldhouse were painted in a sea of orange. In addition to the Marching Illini and some of the Orange Krush, much of the crowd in the historic Hinkle Fieldhouse was made up of fans who made the two-hour drive from Champaign.

“It definitely was a home-court advantage,” Genesis Bryant said with a smile during the postgame press conference.

POSTSEASON HONORS

Three Illinois players were named to the All-Tournament team, given to the best performers in the WBIT games played at Hinkle Fieldhouse.

Kendall Bostic and Genesis Bryant were named to the All-Tournament Team, while Makira Cook was named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player.

“I’ve forgotten how much I love confetti falling,” Green said after the game. “And cutting down nets. It’s the best feeling in the world.”

TCR // Craig Pessman

“I want this to propel us into making NCAA Tournaments with this tournament,” she said. She’d mentioned how she told her players that teams that win in the WNIT (the former second-tier postseason tournament before this year’s WBIT) often go on to make the NCAA Tournament and grow as programs.

While Green and her players enjoyed the confetti and nets, she said that her long-term hope is cutting down nets elsewhere.

“I wanna cut down nets at some point for a Big Ten championship,” she said. “And you can call me crazy, and that’s okay, eventually for a national championship. That’s our goal. That’s our vision.”

STAT STUFFERS

• Makira Cook (ILL): 27 points, 5 assists
• Genesis Bryant (ILL): 17 points, 4 assists, 5 rebounds
• Kendall Bostic (ILL): 15 points, 15 rebounds
• Lucy Olsen (VIL): 22 points, 5 assists, 6 rebounds

MOMENTS THAT MATTERED

Makira Cook would have just five points in the first half after spending time on the bench in due to foul trouble. She marked her return to action with a vengeance, sinking three three-pointers to contribute to a 16-0 Illinois run that would give the Illini their biggest lead of the evening. For the last time this season, LET MAKIRA COOK.

UP NEXT

Thursday is day one of the offseason for Shauna Green & Co.

They will await decisions from key seniors Kendall Bostic and Genesis Bryant, who both have the option of returning to Illinois for a fifth and final season of college basketball.