Illinois
Missouri State Lady Bears got more late-game dramatics to top Illinois Chicago
The Lady Bears’ six-game homestand ended without a blemish as they’ve discovered consistency heading into their first road trip in over a month.
Missouri State (9-3, 3-0) escaped with a 51-50 win over Illinois Chicago (8-6, 1-2) on Saturday afternoon at Great Southern Bank Arena.
A Jade Masogayo go-ahead putback layup with 1.1 seconds remaining proved to be the difference. Illinois Chicago had an open look at a game-winner at the buzzer at the other end but the layup was short-armed.
It marked the Lady Bears’ third one-possession win over their winning streak. The win came a week after Lacy Stokes got a layup at the buzzer to fall in a 54-52 win over Northern Iowa. The Lady Bears are 5-0 in games decided by five points or less.
Before the winning streak, the Lady Bears had yet to put together two wins in a row. Over the stretch, they’ve shown massive improvement and the ability to win close games. They look to keep momentum going during their central Illinois road trip to Bradley on Thursday before playing Illinois State on Sunday.
Missouri State Lady Bears basketball responds to slow start with 20-0 run
Unlike how the Lady Bears started in their 20-point win over Valparaiso on Thursday evening, MSU found itself down in a 9-2 hole through the first four minutes.
That quickly changed as Missouri State finished the first quarter by scoring 20 unanswered points. Indya Green and Kyrah Daniels each scored seven points over the stretch while the defense forced UIC into eight-consecutive misses.
“I wasn’t pleased with how we started the game,” MSU head coach Beth Cunningham said. “That’s just something that can’t happen and we can’t continue to do it. We got hot on the offensive end for the floor and then started to get comfortable again. I don’t know what it is but I think more than anything that it’s mentality. It’s pedal to the metal and you just have to stay on it.”
UIC held MSU to five points in second quarter
Whatever UIC women’s basketball coach Ashleen Bracey said after the first quarter worked. The Flames held the Lady Bears to just five points in the second quarter after MSU scored 20 in the previous six minutes.
Missouri State didn’t score until Jade Masogayo got a layup to fall with 1:42 left in the half. Kyrah Daniels followed with a 3 before the break.
The Flames didn’t make the biggest dent into the Lady Bears’ lead as it led 27-21 at halftime. UIC started with a 10-0 run to start the quarter but only made one shot from the field over the final 6:39.
Lady Bears pull off another win in dramatic fashion
Neither team led by more than five in the second half and the final 4:38 never had a difference of more than a possession.
With the Lady Bears leading by two with 18.6 seconds to go, UIC guard Jaida McCloud missed the backend of a one-and-one with the Flames grabbing the rebound. After a timeout with 16 seconds remaining, UIC guard Makiyah Williams fought in the paint to get the ball to go off the backboard and in with three seconds left for a one-point advantage.
After a Lady Bears timeout, down one, a lob into Daniels underneath the basket was deflected into Masogayo’s hands who scored a go-ahead putback layup with 1.1 seconds remaining.
“Right place at the right time,” Masogayo said. “It just literally fell on my hands and I put it up.”
“It was just the way they pressure and overplay,” Cunningham added. “I felt like they overplayed. I thought we had (Daniels) and we threw it a bit short. If we threw it a bit higher, I think Kyrah probably would have had it there. But Jade was right there. It wasn’t exactly how it was designed but it ended up working out as a touch pass to Jade.”
A timeout advanced the ball up the court. A near-perfectly executed call gave the Flames an open look for a layup at the horn but the shot came up short.
Daniels led the Lady Bears with 15 points. No other Lady Bear scored more than nine as the team shot 35%. They held the Flames to 37.3% and came away with the win despite uncharacteristically losing the rebound battle by 10.
Up next
After six straight home games, the Lady Bears will hit the road for the first time since Dec. 6. They will travel to Bradley for a 6 p.m. game on Thursday before a 6 p.m. matchup at Illinois State on Jan. 14. Missouri State will return home Jan. 19 and 21 for games against Evansville and Indiana State.
Wyatt D. Wheeler is a reporter and columnist with the Springfield News-Leader. You can contact him at 417-371-6987, by email at wwheeler@news-leader.com or X at@WyattWheeler_NL.
Illinois
Thousands of birds could migrate over the Chicago area this week, and here’s how to protect them
Thousands upon thousands of birds are expected to cross over Illinois as part of their spring migrations in coming days.
Thursday night saw the highest migration totals of the season so far, but researchers at Cornell believe that Sunday and Monday nights could see even more avian traffic in the skies over the Chicago area, with hundreds of thousands of birds expected to traverse the area.
According to estimates from Birdcast, Sunday night and into Monday morning there could be “medium” activity for migrating birds, with thousands of birds per kilometer flying over the area.
Even more birds are expected to take flight Monday night and into Tuesday morning thanks to favorable weather conditions, with a “high” number of birds expected to take to the skies over the Chicago area.
According to estimates, up to 383 million birds could be in flight over the central United States during the peak of the migration overnight.
On Thursday night the Chicago area experienced its busiest night of the spring migration season so far, with more than 367,000 birds having been estimated to have passed over Cook County alone.
In all, more than 23,000,000 birds are believed to have crossed the state of Illinois so far during the spring migration.
Among the primary birds expected to be flying through the area are American Redstarts, Magnolia Warblers, Baltimore Orioles and Indigo Buntings, according to researchers at the CornellLab.
As millions of birds continue visiting the Chicago area, here are some steps that residents can take to keep them safe.
When do birds typically migrate?
Peak migration for birds over the state of Illinois occurs in mid-to-late May, with hundreds of different species heading north for the summer breeding season.
Those migration flights for songbirds and other species typically take place in the overnight hours. According to experts, birds typically take flight 30-to-45 minutes after sunset, with the greatest number of birds in flight typically seen approximately two-to-three hours later.
When should residents turn lights off?
One of the best ways to help protect birds is to turn off lights during peak migration times.
According to Birdcast, the best time to turn off or dim exterior lights and interior lights is between the hours of 11 p.m. and 6 a.m., when most birds are active.
Bright lights can disorient and attract birds, making them vulnerable to collisions and to predators on the ground, according to the website.
Hundreds of millions of birds are killed each year in collisions with buildings, and residents and businesses are being asked to do their part to keep the creatures safe.
In addition to turning off unneeded exterior lights, residents and businesses are also asked to dim or turn off lights in lobbies, and to draw blinds to help keep light from escaping through windows.
Finally, exterior lights should be aimed downward and be well-shielded so that birds aren’t attracted to them.
Are there other steps?
Another key step in protecting birds is to bring pet cats inside during overnight hours.
According to the American Bird Conservancy, cats kill an estimated 2.4 billion birds in the United States every year, and during migration season those impacts can be even more devastating, as exhausted birds typically seek refuge in plants and trees to rest on their journeys, making them vulnerable to attack.
Since cats like to hunt at night, active migrating birds can be a target, leading to experts asking residents to keep animals inside when possible.
Police are investigating after a motorcyclist was killed in a crash in suburban Oswego on Saturday afternoon.
Officers responded to the 4000 block of Route 34 near Wolf Road for the crash around 1:42 p.m. The motorcyclist was unconscious and was receiving CPR when officers arrived.
They took over medical care until paramedics arrived and took the victim, identified as a 20-year-old man, to a local hospital, where he later died from his injuries.
The victim’s identity is being withheld pending an autopsy scheduled for Monday, police said.
Initial reports say the victim was traveling eastbound on Route 34 when he hit an enclosed trailer being towed by a van. According to the police, the van was also traveling eastbound and was attempting to make a right turn into a driveway when the crash occurred.
The driver and passenger in the van were not hurt, police said.
Route 34 was closed between Wolf Road and Boulder Hill Pass for four hours for crash reconstruction.
The crash remains under investigation pending completion of the traffic crash reconstruction report.
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