Women drop contest vs rival Northwestern

Gisselle Truiett scored her first double-double against Northwestern. Photo: Timothy Nguyen

The UIC women’s basketball team (3-1) dropped its Wednesday matinee at Northwestern (4-0) by a score of 60-41.

UIC held an 11-9 lead with 12:51 left in the first half before Northwestern went on a 21-6 run to close out the half.

Redshirt junior Ruvanna Campbell, the reigning Horizon League Player of the Week, collected her eighth straight double-double with 10 points and 15 rebounds. Campbell, who leads the nation with 18.0 rebounds per game, owns 30 double-doubles in 39 games played at UIC.

Campbell has 21 consecutive double-figure rebounding performances — 32 in her UIC career. She had four steals and two blocks. Her 65 career blocks put her 10th on UIC’s all-time list.

Senior Gisselle Truiett scored 10 points for the first double-digit performance of her career. She was 4-of-9 from the field, including a career-high 2-of-4 from beyond the arc. Truiett tied her career highs of five rebounds and two steals.

Junior Caitlin Garant scored nine points in the first half and was 4-of-8 from the floor. Meanwhile, sophomore Melita Emanuel-Carr had six rebounds, four assists and tied her career high with three steals. Redshirt sophomore Kendyl Nunn scored five points in 15 minutes off the bench and drained her first three-pointer in a UIC uniform.

UIC held Northwestern to 36 percent shooting (21-of-58), including 11 percent from downtown (2-of-18). The Flames have held opponents to 34 percent from the floor and 18 percent from beyond the arc this season.

UIC picked up nine more steals and owns 51 over four contests. The Flames outrebounded the Wildcats 40-39; they have won the rebounding battle in three out of four contests.

UIC held leads at 5-2, 7-5 and 11-9 before the Wildcats went on a 21-6 run to close out the half. Northwestern scored the final nine points of the half after the Flames cut the Wildcats’ lead to 21-17 with 5:28 left on Truiett’s layup. The Wildcats outscored the Flames 31-23 in the second half and held their largest lead at 54-29 with 4:23 remaining.

UIC is back in action Sunday as the Flames host Division II member Illinois-Springfield (2-3). The contest, 3 p.m. at the UIC Pavilion, is an exhibition game for the Prairie Stars.