Women’s basketball sweeps Valpo

Senior Katie Hannemann scored a season-high 29 points Monday. Photo: Timothy Nguyen

The women’s basketball team (18-6, 7-4 Horizon League) picked up its seventh Horizon League victory Monday with an 82-73 road win over Valparaiso (3-19, 1-8 Horizon League).

Senior Katie Hannemann scored a season-high 29 points to lead the Flames to a season sweep of the Crusaders.

Sophomore Ruvanna Campbell collected her sixth straight double-double with 14 points and 11 rebounds.

UIC’s 18-6 overall record is the program’s best mark through 24 games in program history. UIC is 7-4 through 11 conference contests for the first time since the 2009-10 season.

UIC seeks its eighth Horizon League win Saturday when the Flames travel to Dayton, Ohio, to take on Wright State (17-7, 6-3 Horizon League). Tip-off is set for 1 p.m. at the Nutter Center.

UIC never trailed in Monday’s game and led by as many as 20 in the second half.

The Flames held a 46-32 advantage in points-in-the-paint, grabbed 19 offensive rebounds and scored 24 second-chance points.

Valparaiso cut UIC’s early lead to 19-12 before the Flames went on a 12-0 run to take a 31-12 advantage with 9:29 on the clock. Valpo responded with a 22-6 run and trailed by three (37-34) with 1:21 before halftime. Lexi Miller’s last-second, half-court shot went in to trim UIC’s halftime lead to 42-37.

Jessi Wiedemann’s jumper with 16:09 left in the second half narrowed the Flames’ advantage to 49-43. But UIC went on a 10-0 run to put the game out of reach.

Hannemann was 11-of-13 from the field and 7-of-8 from the free throw line for her fifth career 20-point performance. Her previous season high was 19 against Texas Southern (Nov. 30).

Hannemann had 14 second-half points and was a perfect 6-of-6 from the floor. Over the last seven games, she has converted 60.2 percent of her field-goal attempts (41-of-68). Hannemann (908 career points) is the 19th player in program history to surpass the 900-career point plateau.

Campbell’s double-double is her league-high 16th of the season. She was 5-of-11 from the field and 4-of-5 from the charity stripe in her 23rd double-digit performance.

Campbell had 11 points and six rebounds in the second half. Over the last six contests, Campbell is averaging 21.3 points, 13.7 rebounds and shooting 56.5 percent from the floor (52-of-92).

Senior Rachel Story picked up her 20th double-figure performance with 14 points on 5-of-12 shooting. She tied her career high with seven rebounds.

Sophomores Terri Bender and Imani Moore both contributed nine points.

Bender collected three steals to average 3.3 steals over the last six contests.

Six of Moore’s career-high nine points came in the second half. She tied her career high of four rebounds.