Tuesday, January 19, 2016

UIS women earn first conference victory

The University of Illinois Springfield women’s basketball team rebounded from a humiliating defeat Thursday with a 63-52 win against William Jewell at The Recreation and Athletic Center on Saturday.

The victory snapped a three-game losing streak and earned the Prairie Stars their first Great Lakes Valley Conference win. They are 6-8 overall and 1-6 in the conference.

UIS found the win column with good ball movement and solid defense.

“We played as a team,” UIS senior forward Ashley McHenry said. “We played for each other rather than playing for ourselves. We moved the ball a lot. Nobody was selfish today. Everybody moved their feet. We helped on defense.”

UIS fell behind 12-5 but rallied to a 27-24 halftime lead. The Stars started pulling away from the Cardinals in the third quarter. They used a 12-2 run to go ahead 51-41 with 6 minutes 52 seconds left in the fourth. UIS remained in control the rest of the way.

It was a much needed bounce-back win for the Stars after shooting 18.2 percent from the field in the first half of a 72-46 loss to Rockhurst on Thursday.

“I am proud as I can be of that group after what we went through Thursday night,” UIS coach Mark Kost said. “To come back 36 hours and perform the way we performed after laying an egg says something about their character.

 “The defense was much better. We were focused and paid attention to detail.”

 McHenry led all players with 18 points. She also had five of the team’s 16 assists. Sophomore guard  Shelbi Patterson scored 14 points. Junior forward Chelsea Cross had 11 rebounds.
   
 The story was reported by The State Journal-Register on January 17, 2016.
 
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Thursday, January 14, 2016

UIS men's basketball team begins 3-game homestand vs. Rockhurst

The University of Illinois Springfield men’s basketball team is looking forward to playing at home after a grueling road schedule that started in November.

“We have had 10 games against Division I and II teams and one has been at home this year,” UIS coach Bill Walker said.

The Prairie Stars have played a light home schedule until now. UIS (6-8) hosts three straight Great Lakes Valley Conference games at The Recreation and Athletic Center beginning Thursday night with Rockhurst (6-6) at 7:30. It plays Saturday against William Jewell and Monday against McKendree.

Rockhurst has a 1-3 conference record. UIS is 0-4 in the GLVC but could pick up a couple of league victories during the three-game homestand. UIS, William Jewell and McKendree as well as Missouri-St. Louis are the only teams without wins in the GLVC.

The team was featured by The State Journal-Register on January 14, 2016.

Read the article online. 

Tuesday, January 12, 2016

New UIS men's soccer coach Hall knows conference well

Adam Hall is leaving one Great Lakes Valley Conference school to coach another as the new men’s soccer coach at the University of Illinois Springfield.

Hall, 31, was the men’s head coach at Saint Joseph’s College in Rensselaer, Indiana, last season. He coached at Ancilla College in Donaldson, Indiana, the previous two years.

Hall has had two head coaching jobs and turned both programs around immediately. Saint Joseph’s produced its first winning record since 2009 with a 9-6-1 finish last fall. The Pumas placed seventh in the GLVC standings, a nine-spot improvement. They also qualified for the GLVC tournament for the first time in 20 years.

At Ancilla, Hall was the 2013 Michigan Community College Athletic Association Coach of the Year after leading the team to the MCCAA title.

“The program hadn’t won a game in two years in the conference and we won it (the conference title) in our first year,” Hall said. “The next year, we were ranked 11th in the nation.

“St. Joe was a good turnaround as well.”

He hopes to turn things around at UIS. The Prairie Stars were 4-12-2 and 2-11-2 last fall.

Hall’s salary at UIS is $45,000.

The story was reported by The State Journal-Register on January 12, 2016.

Read the article online.