By Jami Sponaugle

Chicago, Ill. - In their final game of the 2022-23 season, the Illinois Tech Scarlet Hawks women's basketball team battled toe-to-toe with the Rockford University Regents in Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference (NACC) action. The senior day game saw double overtime action as the two sides fought until the very end. At the final buzzer, the Hawks (7-18, 4-14) unfortunately fell to the Regents 71-69. 

Senior Day

Before the game, the Hawks honored their three seniors: Chloe Rubinowicz, Catherine Klemp, and Jessica Weaver. Congratulations to these seniors for their careers as Scarlet Hawks. Thank you for your contributions to Illinois Tech noth on and off the court. 

First Half (Illinois Tech 25 - Rockford 30)

• Rockford began the game with the lead before Julia Bucci made two free throws followed by a Camden Joko 3-pointer to give Illinois Tech a 5-3 lead with 8:02 remaining in the first quarter. Then, with 5:12 left in the quarter, the Regents would tie the game at 8-8 after two free throws. The visitors then took a 11-10 lead over the Hawks with 2:32 on the clock. After that, Bucci put down 5 points to give the Hawks a 15-11 lead to end the first quarter. 

• At 8:51 in the second quarter, the Regents tied the game at 15-15. The two sides would then go back-and-forth between 7:05 and 6:42 with the Hawks coming out with a 20-17 lead. After a timeout, the Regents would tie the game before taking the lead from two free throws. Approaching halftime, the Hawks picked up 5 points, all from free throws, while the Regents picked up 9. At halftime, the Regents held a 5-point, 30-25 lead over the Hawks. 

Second Half (Illinois Tech 29 - Rockford 24)

• Coming out of halftime, the Hawks were able to tie the game at 31-31 with 7:25 on the clock. Multiple ties would follow before the Regents were able to take a 4-point, 39-35 lead with 3:34 remaining in the third quarter. With 8 seconds left in the quarter, Kaya Jones made a layup to put the Hawks within 3. At the end of the quarter, the Regents led 43-40.

• At the start of the fourth quarter, the Regents held onto their lead. Joko then tied the game with 6:03 on the clock from a 3-pointer to make it 46-46. From there, each time one side seemed to take a lead, the other would respond immediately to tie the game back up. During the last five minutes of the fourth quarter there were a total of 3 ties. At the end of the fourth quarter, the two sides were tied at 54-54, forcing overtime. 

First Overtime (Illinois Tech 8 - Rockford 8)

• In the first overtime, the Regents would quickly take the lead before the Hawks were able to fight their way back to tie it at 60-60 with 1:09 on the clock. Chloe Churilla would go on to make a layup with 31 seconds left to put the Hawks on top, but with just 3 seconds remaining, the Regents would make a jump shot to tie the game once again. At the end of the first overtime, the two sides were tied 62-62. 

Second Overtime (Illinois Tech 7 - Rockford 9)

• Joko began the second overtime with a free throw to get the action started. The Regents would get one of their own to tie the game before picking up another to take the lead. Between 2:41 and 1:15 there would be five lead changes with the Hawks holding a 69-68 lead with 1:15 remaining. The Regents would get two free throws and make both of them with 12 seconds on the clock to take a 1-point, 70-69 lead. Another free throw at the 6 second mark would make it 71-69 in favor of the Regents. Unfortunately for the Hawks, they were unable to secure another basket as they fell to the Regents 71-69 in their final game of the season. 

Scarlet Hawk Standouts

• Bucci led the Hawks with 19 points. Bucci tied her career high of 5 steals during the game. Bucci finished with 4 rebounds and 2 assists. 

• Joko led the Hawks in assists with 3 while recording 16 points, 1 rebound, and 3 steals. 

• Churilla notched a double-double with 13 points and 13 rebounds. Churilla also had 2 assists. 

• Coming off the bench, Grace Goodnough put up 10 points, 8 rebounds, and 1 assist. 

Regents Standouts

• Kyla Wilkereson led the Regents with 21 points. Wilkerson finished with 3 rebounds, 1 assist, and 1 steal. 

• Katie Paredes recorded a double-double with 16 points, 15 rebounds. Paredes led the team with 6 steals. 

• Audrina Terhune followed with 14 points, 4 rebounds, 1 assist, and 5 steals. 

• Jocelyn Callahan closed out the double-digit scoring with 10 points and tallied 3 rebounds and 1 assist. 

Inside the Box Score

• The Hawks finished 22-of-55 (40.0%) from the field, 7-of-20 (35.0%) from behind the arc, and made 18-of-33 (54.5%) of their free throws. The Regents went 25-of-73 (34.2%), 0-16 (0.0%), and 21-of-41 (51.2%) respectively.

• The Regents barely outrebounded the Hawks 48-46.

• 17 of the Hawks' points came off the bench.

Head Coach Carissa Sain's Comments

"Tonight we honored three amazing young women - our senior Cat, Chloe [R] and Jess. I cannot think of a better tribute to them than competing at the level we did in his game - we never backed down and we stayed together even when it was hard.

These three have revitalized our program in a way that I never could have predicted two years ago.

I feel so fortunate to have had the opportunity to coach Cat, Chloe [R], and Jess. Thank you to everyone who came out and supported our team (all year!) and helped us celebrate these amazing young women tonight."

2022-23 Recap

The Hawks finished the 2022-23 season with a 7-18 overall record and a 4-14 NACC record. 

Ending the season, the Hawks averaged 59.8 points per game, 36.5 total rebounds per game, 12.1 assists per game, and 8.1 steals per game. 

Bucci led the Hawks in points and steals this season, recording a total of 399 and 50. Jones and Churilla followed, with 245 and 244 respectively. Churilla led the teams in rebounds with 173 and blocks with 24. Jones notched the most assists with 75.

In the NACC, Bucci led the conference in scoring with her 399 points, averaging 16.0 per game. Bucci ranked 3rd in 3-point field goals with 74-of-200 made. 

Once again, congratulations to the three seniors for their careers as Scarlet Hawks and their contributions to Illinois Tech both on and off the court: Rubinowicz, Klemp, and Weaver.