Women’s basketball falls versus Detroit

Caitlin Garant makes a play. The Flames head to Wisconsin this week. — Photo: Steve Woltmann

Redshirt junior Kendall Nunn scored a career-high 25 points and redshirt senior Ruvanna Campbell added a team-high 29 points Saturday but the women’s basketball team couldn’t hold off the Detroit Titans at UIC Pavilion, losing 89-80.

Nunn’s 25 points came off a career-best 10 field goals and she brought down a team-high 11 rebounds. Marissa Grossfeld reached double figures for the Flames for the first time this season on 4-of-7 shooting.

Detroit (7-8, 3-1 Horizon Leauge) jumped ahead in the first quarter to gain a 15-6 advantage. UIC (9-6, 0-4 Horizon League) created a run of its own, scoring seven unanswered points in the final minutes by Campbell, Nunn and Imani Moore to pull within four, 22-18.

The opening minute of the second quarter brought on 10 combined points with the Flames narrowing the Titans’ lead to 26-24 before Campbell hit a jumper to tie the game at 26. Detroit regained its lead, 36-29, but UIC went on an 11-2 spurt capped by a buzzer-beating three-pointer from Grossfeld to head into the locker room with a 40-38 lead.

The Titans opened the second half on an 8-0 run to give them a 54-46 edge. The Flames came back to tie the game at 54-54, but Detroit reclaimed the lead to end the quarter at 63-60.

UIC scored 11 points in the final frame to take its largest lead, 71-68, with five minutes left to play. The Titans took over with a 7-3 run and sank five free throws in the final minute of play for the win.

UIC heads to Wisconsin for its next two games, versus Milwaukee at 7 p.m. Thursday and at Green Bay at 1 p.m. Saturday.