Urbana took control of the opening tip on Judge Green Court against visiting Peoria Richwoods on Saturday, however was the Knights who lit up the scoreboard first in the early season meeting between the Big 12 conference schools. Despite aggressive rebounding and forced turnovers, the Tigers came up short, 42-20.
Despite several missed opportunities by both teams, it took just over a minute and a half for the Knights to drop the game's first field goal.
After another minute and a half passed, on the team's sixth possession, Urbana's Destin Barber scored on a putback to tie up the score. Fouled on the play, she missed her chance at the free throw line.
Forty-six seconds later, junior McKinzie Sprague found herself at the same line. She missed the first shot but sank the second to give Urbana their first and only lead of the game at 3-2. Sprague then added another field goal to her total after hitting a shot near the basket on an inbound pass play for a 5-2 lead.
Richwoods fought their way back immediately replying with a three-pointer from Alyssa Ross to tie up the score at 5-all. The Knights would score again to end the quarter with the scoreboard in their favor, 7-5.
Much of the second quarter, thanks to controlling the paint, was a pretty even ball game until the Richwoods' Kamryn Heider sank a three-pointer for the last score in the half with 55 seconds left on the clock. Heider would go on to score a game-high 16 points after hitting three more shots from outside the arc in the second half. For the moment, heading into the locker room for the mid-game break, her team would enjoy a 20-10 advantage.
The second-half point production was identical to the first half for Urbana scoring another ten points against the Knights' 22 in the ledger.
After the final buzzer, Gabrielle Mboyo-Meta's seven points were a team-high. Junior Destiny Barber added six points, all from the first half. Meanwhile, Zineria Edwards had drilled a couple of field goals for four points and senior Thiah Butler found the net in the third quarter to finish with two. McKenzie Sprague rounded out the team's scoring effort with a free throw during the first quarter.
Box Score
Final: Richwoods 42 - Urbana 20
Urbana --
Barber 6-0-6, Mboyo-Meta 5-2-7, Sprague 0-1-1, Edwards 4-0-4, Butler 2-0-2.
Richwoods --
Spratttling 2-1-3, Thomas 4-0-4, Alyssa Ross 7-0-7, Alana Ross 3-0-3, Heider 16-0-16, Lana 2-0-2, Haines 4-0-4, Hickson 0-3-3
