posted online 2 / 10 / 03
Sprinting on the sidelines
Bobby La Gesse
The Daily Illini
Illinois head coach Theresa Grentz's seat only gathered dust Sunday.
From tipoff at Sunday afternoon's game, Grentz stood up, moved around and was more animated Sunday than she has been at Assembly Hall this entire year.
"It's all an act," Grentz said of her sideline antics. "Last Sunday I was very calm. They liked it. We came out Thursday night, we had a great practice and were absolutely awful. I made my mind up when we started this game and it isn't going where I want it to be I'm going to be on you."
It only took Grentz 1:41 to return to her old form. She took a timeout then and stormed to center court to meet her team. From there, Grentz moved up and down the court faster than her team. After a steal by junior forward Aminata Yanni, Grentz went stride for stride with Yanni trying to get Yanni down the floor faster.
As for the different Grentz personalities on the floor, Illinois senior forward Cindy Dallas isn't fond of one of them.
"It makes me nervous when she is calm," Dallas said.
Defensive Struggle
The game was defensively oriented for portions of the game, highlighted by a 1:50 stretch where neither team scored a field goal. After several possessions by both teams, Iowa freshman forward Johanna Solverson ended the drought by hitting a layup with a pass from sophomore guard April Calhoun.
That scoreless stretch was just the beginning for the Hawkeyes, as they were kept out of their offense the entire game by Illinois' smothering defense. Iowa shot 37.5 percent from the field for the game.
"Illinois came out and did a great job defensively against us," Iowa head coach Lisa Bluder said. "They forced us into doing things we didn't want to do. (The Illini) did not let us get any open shots."
Play of the Game
After blocking an Iowa shot, Illinois freshman forward Brittney Daugherty hit the deck, diving right past an Iowa player, and tipped the ball to her teammate, sophomore guard Jere Issenmann. Issenmann did her best Kurt Kittner impression as she threw a bullet to a streaking Yanni, past two Iowa defenders, for a layup with 6:45 left in the first half.
Quote of the Game
"This team is a great group. It is an absolute delight to work with this group. Even though Thursday night, I probably really was thinking that maybe I should become a golf pro." — Grentz said of her state of mind after her team's 82-69 loss to Penn State on Thursday.
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