MACOMB, Ill. – Western Illinois (3-4, 1-1) women's basketball started the weekend with a 68-65 win over North Dakota State (2-6, 0-2) on Friday night. An impressive first half gave the Leathernecks a 10-point lead at the break and would hold on for its first Summit League victory.
"Before the game we usually put up a quote or a story and today we put up the Al Pacino speech from Any Given Sunday about inches," said head coach JD Gravina.
"I thought that was really true tonight. We did some really good things and we did some bad things but overall we fought for all the inches and it ended up just being one or two plays that ended up winning the game."
The Bison scored the first four points of the game but Western would respond and take a 6-4 lead on two free throws from Jackie Rieger.
The Fighting Leathernecks led 12-10 at the 11:16 mark powered by three-pointers from Saule Kontautaite and Lindsay Carroll, to go along with forcing three early Bison turnovers.
A steal from Valencia Kelly began a fast break where the Leatherneck senior finished putting Western up 18-14 at the 7:45 mark. Kelly knocked down a jumper on the following position to give Western a 20-14 lead, and followed with her second steal in two minutes.
The seventh North Dakota State turnover led to a Michele Salvatori jumper, giving Western the 22-14 lead.
Western's run continued with Kontautaite's second deep ball extending the home lead to 11 with five minutes before the break.
At the break, Western held onto a 33-23 lead with 12 points from Kontautaite as she knocked down four three-pointers in the first half. Salvatori chipped in six points. The bench was a main reason for the first half success as it poured in 19 points opposed to NDSU's six.
The biggest lead for the Purple & Gold came with two minutes left in the first half when a Kontautaite deep ball gave Western a 15-point advantage.
The Leathernecks shot 31 percent (12-for-39) and drilled five shots from behind the arc while outrebounding NDSU, 23-22, including 11 offensive boards.
Western would continue to hold at least an eight-point advantage until a Dani DeGagne jumper at the 13:31 mark cut the deficit to six. Two more jumpers from DeGagne would trim Western's leads to just a bucket, 44-42, with 12:01 remaining in regulation.
Salvatori drained an important jumper to slow the Bison momentum and Kelly followed with a jumper to extend the lead back to six for Western Illinois. Kontautaite found Rachel Evans underneath the basket with a heads-up touch pass to give the Leathernecks its biggest lead of the second half, eight points, with 8:32 left in the game.
NDSU's Janae Burich knocked down a turnaround jumper to get the deficit back to two, 56-54, at the six-minute mark.
Sadie Webb was able to drain a clutch deep ball to give Western a seven-point lead with 2:31 left. The Bison again answered and trimmed the lead to two on a jumper from DeGagne with just less than two minutes left.
Both teams went scoreless until the 20 second mark when Salvatori went to the line and sunk both free throws. Jamie Van Kirk kept the NDSU comeback alive with a jumper, making it 67-65, with five seconds remaining.
NDSU sent Salvatori to the charity stripe with three second and she was able to convert the first attempt and missed the second, allowing a prayer from Burich but the horn sounded before she could let it fly.
Joining Kontautaite in double-figures was Salvatori and Kelly, both collecting 15 points. Salvatori also pulled down a game-high seven rebounds while Kelly dished out a career-high six assists.
Western's bench outscored the Bison's bench 26-11 on the night while collecting eight fast break points to NDSU's zero.
DeGagne led the Bison with 18 points while Burich collected 16 points and six rebounds.
The December section of the schedule continues as the Purple & Gold travel to Eastern Illinois on Monday, Dec. 5 for a 7 p.m. clash.
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