Hoosiers earn Big Ten road win against Illini

Coming off a near-upset-turned-loss against No. 19 Michigan State Thursday, the IU women's basketball team took care of business on the road against Illinois on Sunday night.\nThe Hoosiers (13-4, 2-2) defeated the Fighting Illini (12-4, 2-2) 71-64, recording their first win at Illinois in nearly three years. \nSophomore forward Kim Roberson led the way for the Hoosiers with a game- and career-high 28 points. Roberson also added six rebounds and four steals. Senior center Sarah McKay contributed 17 points while sophomore forward Whitney Thomas grabbed 13 rebounds for IU.\nBoth teams headed into the second half tied at 27-27, but the Hoosiers were hot early, opening with a 26-10 run in the first 10 minutes of the second half, including 10 points from Roberson. The Fighting Illini, however, regained their momentum and crawled back, down just one point after two free throws by freshman Jenna Smith made the score 63-62 with 1:40 to go in the game. McKay answered seconds later with a layup for the Hoosiers to give them a five-point lead and put them up for good.\nAfter shooting a dismal 33 percent from the field against Michigan State last week, IU was able to improve against Illinois and hit 43 percent of its field goals. The Hoosiers also shot 37 percent from beyond the arc (7-19) and grabbed 35 rebounds.\nThe Illini nearly matched the Hoosiers in those categories, shooting 42 percent from the field (24-57), hit 35 percent of their 3-point attempts (6-17) and recorded 36 rebounds.\nWhile IU did not dominate most statistical categories, the lone exception to that proved to be the most important, as the Hoosiers forced 17 turnovers. IU scored 18 points off Illini turnovers but turned the ball over 13 times in the contest itself.\nThe Hoosiers play next against the Iowa Hawkeyes (10-7, 2-2) Thursday at \nAssembly Hall.