Chicago, Ill. - Despite losing their season-opener to St. Catherine 79-37 Saturday afternoon at the Keating Sports Center, the game itself was a success for the Illinois Tech women's basketball program.

Not a success in the traditional sense of on the scoreboard or in the won-loss column, but a success in that this was the team's first regular season competition in almost 20 months. Head Coach Carissa Sain's first season with the team in 2020-2021 was wiped out due to the pandemic. The team had not played a regular season game since February 22nd, 2020.  The ability for the team, with a mix of returning players and several new additions, to be able to put all of their hard work during the gap into action was a measure of victory in itself.

Despite starting the season 0-1, the Scarlet Hawks will have a lot to build on from this first game, and hopefully, a full slate of basketball games to look forward to so they can continue to develop their team.

How It Happened:

First Quarter

• The Wildcats opened with a 12-0 run before the Hawks got on the board with a pair of free throws from Deriniece Moton.
• St. Catherine extended their lead to 26-3 before the Hawks made a pair of baskets, including a three-pointer by Allie Sillo, to close out the first quarter trailing 26-8.

Second Quarter

• The Hawks had their best quarter of the game defensively, limiting the Wildcats to just 12 points, while collecting six defensive rebounds and four steals.
• Moton paced the Hawks with six points in the quarter, as the Hawks entered halftime trailing 38-15.

Third Quarter

• The Wildcats extended their lead to 57-25 at the close of the third quarter, hitting 47% from the field.
• Julia Bucci paced the Hawks with five points in the quarter.

Fourth Quarter

• After St. Catherine's Kylie Wood opened the fourth quarter with a layup to extend the Wildcats lead to 59-25, the Hawks responded with two consecutive baskets, including two-sport athlete(volleyball) Jessica Weaver collecting her first career points on a layup after an offensive rebound.
• Four different Hawk players scored in the quarter, led by Brooke Rowan with five points.
• The Wildcats remained hot from the field, hitting on 62% of their field goals, including 40% from behind the arc.

Scarlet Hawk Standouts

• Moton and Bucci each had 10 points for the Hawks, while Rowan finished with nine.
• Sillo had six points, hitting two of six from three-point range.
• Bucci led the Hawks with six rebounds, while Erin Nelson grabbed four.

Wildcat Watch

• Wood paced the Wildcats with 16 points, including going 3-4 from three-point range.
• Sam Orth added 15 points and led with eight rebounds.
• Greta Schimnowski had 11 points on 3-3 shooting from three.
• Brooke Torvik collected four steals.

Inside the Box Score

• The Hawks shot 26.1% from the field on 12/46 shooting. The Wildcats shot 48.5% (32/66).
• The Wildcats shot 33.3% from three point range; the Hawks shot 17.6%.
• The Wildcats out-rebounded the Hawks 38-25.
• The Hawks turned the ball over 25 times, resulting in 28 points off those turnovers. The Wildcats had 14 turnovers.

Up Next

• The Scarlet Hawks travel to Milwaukee to take on Mount Mary on Wednesday, November 10 at 6pm.