Illinois stuns No. 10 Minnesota women, 94-80

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (AP) -- It could have been another case of bad timing for Illinois, if not for Aminata Yanni.

Yanni scored a career-high 30 points and Angelina Williams added 22 to lead the Illini past No. 10 Minnesota 94-80 Sunday.

Illinois lost 77-62 at Minnesota Jan. 9, three days after Penn State defeated the Gophers 83-53 for Minnesota's first loss of the season.

The Gophers (15-3, 4-3 Big Ten) were coming off their second loss of the season, 74-71 at Michigan State, and were hoping to bounce back once again against Illinois.

But Yanni scored 19 first-half points on 7-of-13 shooting to help the Illini take a 45-42 halftime lead and held Minnesota's Lindsay Whalen, who entered the game averaging 23.5 points per game, to just 13.

"If Aminata isn't player of the week in the Big Ten, I'm going to have a little say," Illinois coach Theresa Grentz said. "She defends this kid and she scores 30. Now what more do you want?"

The Illini appeared to have an answer for anything the Gophers tried.

"We had two days of practice that we worked on concepts of what we wanted to do in this game," Grentz said. "The kids responded very well, and we got the job done."

Corrin Von Wald led Minnesota with 15 points, Shannon Bolden and Kadidja Andersson added 11 apiece and Kim Prince chipped in 10.

For the Illini, Cindy Dallas had a double-double with 13 points and 11 rebounds, Tiffanie Guthrie added 15 points and Brett Leonard added a career-high 12.

Illinois went on a 26-7 run in the first 10 minutes of the second. The Illini, who were effective on the fast break the entire game, twice increased their lead to 23.

"We didn't force them into having to score in a half-court situation, that was the key to the game," Gophers coach Pam Borton said. "We gave up 40 points in transition, and we're not going to win a lot of games giving up 94 points."

MINNESOTA (15-3)

Lieser 2-3 0-0 6, Anderson 4-7 3-4 11, McCarville 2-5 0-2 4, Whalen 5-10 2-4 13, Von Wald 5-12 3-4 15, Prince 3-7 4-5 10, Schonrock 1-6 0-0 3, Bolden 4-5 2-2 11, Gilbert 3-10 0-0 7. Totals 29-65 14-21 80.

ILLINOIS (12-5)

Yanni 11-21 3-4 30, Dallas 3-6 7-8 13, Hagberg 0-1 2-2 2, Leonard 3-3 4-4 12, Williams 10-21 2-3 22, Hughes 0-1 0-0 0, Acuna 0-1 0-0 0, Guthrie 3-9 9-9 15, Issenmann 0-1 0-0 0, Daugherty 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 30-64 27-30 94.

Halftime--Illinois 45, Minnesota 42. 3-Point goals--Minnesota 8-19 (Von Wald 2-2, Lieser 2-3, Bolden 1-2, Gilbert 1-2, Whalen 1-4, Schonrock 1-6), Illinois 7-18 (Yanni 5-11, Leonard 2-2, Hughes 0-1, Acuna 0-1, Guthrie 0-1, Williams 0-2). Fouled out--Von Wald, Hagberg. Rebounds--Minnesota 36 (McCarville 7), Illinois 38 (Dallas 11). Assists--Minnesota 16 (Whalen 8), Illinois 15 (Williams 5). Total fouls--Minnesota 21, Illinois 15. A--3,253.