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The Fighting Illini are champions.

Behind a big second-half surge, Illinois clinched the inaugural WBIT title in a 71-57 victory over Villanova at Hinkle Fieldhouse on Wednesday night. The victory marked the program's first-ever postseason title.

Thanks to everyone who attended the third annual Cash Bash fundraiser for our Illinois women’s basketball team. We raised $45,005 for the ICON Collective, Inc. - $40,400 from the live auction and $4,605 from the silent auction. After adding in ticket sales and 50/50 raffle money minus our expenses we raised a grand total of $57,617.58.

Here is a list of event winners:

Early Bird Draw of $100 – American Legion Post 71

Biggest Loser Award – first ticket out, $200 award – Ron Kiddoo

$100 Cash Winners – Candy Stoll, Camille & Tim McKinley, Vicki Trimble, Rick Borton, Steve Wanzek & Darla Lord, Linda Finfrock, Ryan & Misty Snyder, Diane Hodges & Marijo Dluzak, Cheryl Snyder & Melissa Breen, Lynn & Jeff Rubarts

Prize Winners – Cheryl & Bob Lewis, Ann & Kerry Jones, Kristi & Jeff Stevens, Deanne Clapp, Anita Guffey, Becky Beach,  Lesley Lustig, Janeen Sullivan & Carol Berkowicz, Dawn Miller & Kathy Ward

Grand Prize Winners – Split $10,500.00

Les & Lori Hoveln and The Bonnelbring Nephews

Congrats to all of the winners and hope to see everyone next year!

JOIN THE COURTSIDERS TODAY!

Click on the membership icon to get the membership brochure for the 2023-2024 season. Also, be sure to get your season tickets today! It's going to be a fun ride and you are not going to want to miss it!

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – Fighting Illini rising senior Aicha Ndour has been named to the 12-person roster for the Senegal National Team's upcoming competition in Kigali, Rwanda, at the 2023 FIBA Women's AfroBasket Tournament. The AfroBasket event is scheduled for July 28 – August 5 with Senegal playing in friendly competition ahead of the tournament.

Entering her second season with the Fighting Illini in the upcoming 2023-24 campaign, Ndour appeared in 23 games as a junior. She averaged 1.5 points and 1.6 rebounds per game, coming off the bench as a reserve for the Orange and Blue.

Prior to Illinois, Ndour played her sophomore campaign at Northwest Florida State College and freshman season at Rutgers.

Ndour has spent the summer back home in Senegal advancing through the national team tryouts.

In total, 12 teams qualified for the women’s AfroBasket field. Senegal is in Group C, which also includes Mali and Uganda. In the group phase, each team will play the other opponents in their group. The top teams will advance directly to the quarterfinals while the teams finishing second and third will play in a qualification round to advance to the quarterfinals.

The winners of the quarterfinals advance to semifinals, while the losers will play the classification games for the fifth through eighth places. The classification game for third place and the final will be played on the last day of competition.

AfroBasket games will be streamed on Courtside 1891. More on the 2023 FIBA Women’s AfroBasket event can be found on the main website.

Durr, Giacone Elevated to Assistant Coaches following NCAA Coaching Limit Increase

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – With the NCAA's coaching limit increase going into effect on July 1, Emily Durr and Jenna Giacone (juh-cone-ee) have been elevated to assistant coaches on Shauna Green's Illinois women's basketball staff.

"I am very excited to utilize the new NCAA rule where we can have six on-court coaches with promoting Jenna and Emily," shared Green. "They are both very deserving to be in this role and I can't wait to see the impact they make on our team with this new opportunity. They both have so much knowledge and energy to pour into our student-athletes."

Passed in January 2023, the Division I Council moved forward to modernize rules for coaching limits across several sports. In men's and women's basketball, the Council supported an increase of two coaches. Per the NCAA, these additional coaches may engage in coaching activities but may not recruit off campus. The rule change codified a blanket waiver that allowed up to two non-coaching staff members to engage in instructional duties if one or more of the head and/or assistant coaches were not in attendance.

Durr will add on-court coaching duties in addition to her director of recruiting operations responsibilities while Giacone will add on-court coaching duties on top of her director of scouting and player development role in year two on Green's Illini staff.

"I am truly honored and thankful Coach Green has chosen me to fulfill this expanded role under the new NCAA guidelines," stated Durr. "She is the epitome of a great leader, and I can't wait to work with our amazing staff and student-athletes day in and day out. Now let's get to work, I-L-L!"

"I am beyond excited to step into the new role the NCAA has created, allowing two additional on-court coaches," Giacone said. "Coaching is something I have always wanted to do, and I am ready and eager to be more hands on with our players. I want to thank Coach Green for trusting me and giving me the opportunity to fulfill this new role and I am ready to get to work!"

Both Durr and Giacone followed Green from her previous stop at Dayton. Durr served one season as an administrative associate with the Flyers while Giacone played six seasons under Green at UD.

Illini Golf Cart

Courtsiders is proud to announce the latest addition to the Fighting Illini Women's Basketball program.

This tricked out, 8 person, Illini Orange and Blue golf cart will be used by the program to aid in recruiting.
Prospective players and their families will be chauffeured around the campus in style as the coaching staff promotes all the positives to be offered by the University of Illinois.

This golf cart, and many other items, are purchased with money raised by Courtsiders through
your dues, generous contributions and fund raisers such as the annual golf outing (August 2021)

The Fighting Illini Women's Basketball program thanks you for your support