Brown-Hagger ‘growth’ through nonconference play evident for Illini

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Dec. 21—CHAMPAIGN — The Illinois women’s basketball team’s closer-than-expected 69-57 win against Southern early Friday afternoon at State Farm Center didn’t feature anything easy happening to Shauna Green’s team.

Efficient offense? Not so much.

Consistent defense? The Illini got beat too many times on straight-line drives in the first half. Or watched the Jaguars hit for three-pointers too often.

What did come relatively easy about Illinois’ final nonconference game was Jasmine Brown-Hagger’s offensive ability, with the Illini guard producing a game-high 20 points, three rebounds and two steals.

“It’s really a credit to my teammates and my coaches instilling that confidence and knowing that they have my back. Whenever there’s a mistake made, I think we just all pick each other up,” Brown-Hagger said. “Everything I got was off of a team effort, whether we got an offensive rebound and we threw it around the arc and I was the one open because it was a double team. So, playing off of my teammates’ effort and being the one who was open to shoot it confidently is what kept the momentum going in the first half.”

The Illini (10-2) needed that from their 5-foot-9 sophomore guard on Friday against Southern (2-11). And could really use that the rest of the season from the Shorewood native now in her first season at Illinois after an offseason transfer from Mississippi State.

That the Illini find themselves in this position is the result of major injuries to their backcourt. Starting point guard Makira Cook didn’t play for a third straight game on Friday, and Gretchen Dolan, who had been one of the first players off the bench for Illinois, has been out since the start of December.

The absences of Cook and Dolan were expected on Friday. Illinois coach Shauna Green all but ruled them both out 24 hours before the noon tip with Southern, but hasn’t specified their injuries.

What was perhaps most impressive, though, about Brown-Hagger was how well she handled her role as the primary…

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Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/brown-hagger-growth-nonconference-play-154700306.html

Author : The News-Gazette, Champaign-Urbana, Ill.

Publish date : 2024-12-21 15:47:00

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