CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – The second of consecutive road games against Big Ten Conference (B1G) opponents, the Oakland Golden Grizzlies were defeated by the Illinois Fighting Illini, 84-55, on Monday, November 21 at the State Farm Center.

Moving to 5-0 for the sixth time in the 49-year history of Illinois women's basketball, Monday's 29-point difference was the closest contest the Illini have played this season, as they previously won each of their first four by at least 31 points.

Oakland is now 2-2 and while Monday's result was not what the program was hoping for, it was a marked improvement over their November 15 showing in East Lansing against the Michigan State Spartans.

After turning the basketball over 29 times in the Michigan State game, the Golden Grizzlies cut this in more than half against Illinois, committing only 14. Additionally, Oakland hit 82.4 percent (14-17) of their free throws Monday, up from 62.5 percent (10-16) in the clash with the Spartans.

Bouncing back from a scoreless performance against Michigan State, senior Breanne Beatty paced the Golden Grizzlies with 13 points, her third time in double figures this year. Sophomore Kennedie Montue was right on her heels with 12, followed by junior Linda Van Schaik with 10 and freshman Brooke Daniels with five.

Illinois junior guard Makira Cook, who came with first-year head coach Shauna Green from the Dayton Flyers, tallied a game-high 18 points. Sophomores Adalia McKenzie and Jayla Oden both had 13 and senior Jada Peebles finished with 12 to join her in double-digits.

The Illini led 23-13 after 10 minutes of play, but Oakland did a nice job of hanging around in the second quarter, as this was only a 14-point game at the half, 40-26. A 12-6 run in the first 4:07 of the third brought the cushion up to 20, however, and Illinois had it up to 24 by the end of the quarter, 63-39.

A layup by junior Alexis Johnson with 9:31 left cut the margin to 23, but the Golden Grizzlies would not come closer than that.

UP NEXT
Continuing a stretch of seven-straight games away from the O'rena and right after Thursday's Thanksgiving holiday, Oakland will head to the Roy L. Patrick Gymnasium on the University of Vermont campus to compete in the four-team TD Bank Classic.

The Golden Grizzlies will battle the Siena Saints of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) on Saturday, November 26 at 3 p.m.

Prior to the Oakland game, the host Catamounts will face the Stonehill Skyhawks, who belong to the Northeast Conference and are new to the NCAA Division I level in 2022-23, with the respective winners and losers of these two tilts squaring off on Sunday, November 27.