BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Genesis Bryant was borderline prescient about one of the keys to the Illinois women's basketball team pulling off an upset at Indiana on Thursday night.
More than 36 hours before tipoff against the Hoosiers at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall, the fifth-year Illini senior guard spoke about the importance of a fast start.
A fast start? Check.
Illinois jumped out to a 14-point lead in the first quarter. Carried that momentum into the second quarter, too, to take a 13-point halftime lead.
A lead that became significant after Indiana made a run in the second half.
In the end, the Illini had more than enough to deliver an important 68-54 victory against the Hoosiers before 10,534 fans at Assembly Hall, a building Illinois had not won at since 2012.
Until Thursday night.
"Our defense, we talk about it all the time and these guys are believing in it," Illinois coach Shauna Green said after her team held Indiana 18 points below its season average. "I was really concerned about guarding these guys. How they spread you, all the action, I mean you're constantly moving and then throw in that we're not the deepest team around now.
"How we came out. I talked to them in prep about we need to set the tone. How do you take a great environment out of a game? You set the tone with our defense and our rebounding. Just so proud of the effort and the discipline we had in guarding their action."
It was Berry Wallace that gave the Illini (13-4, 3-3 Big Ten) a spark in the fourth quarter after Indiana (12-5, 4-2) cut a double-digit deficit down to four points, at 49-45, with 7 minutes, 46 seconds left in the game.
Wallace stole a pass attempt from Indiana guard Sydney Parrish and the Illinois freshman forward took it straight to the bucket for a fast-break layup. Wallace later followed that up with a high-arching wing three-pointer to restore a 55-45 lead for the Illini with six minutes to go.
Just like that in the span of nearly two minutes Illinois completely reversed the momentum.
"Knowing that we had to get the momentum going for the end," Wallace said of her mindset during her personal 5-0 scoring run. "They went on a little run in the second half. We knew we had to stop that and we had to take our own run. I think it was really big to just have urgency on defense and make sure we were getting stops and turning those into points."
What Green made clear after Thursday night's win is what it meant for her team after two near-misses at Indiana the last two trips. Illinois, after all, lost by a combined 10 points the Illini played in Bloomington, Ind.
That changed. And it was an Indiana native that starred for Illinois, as fifth-year senior forward Kendall Bostic supplied a game-high 21 points and added eight rebounds and three assists.
"I wanted this one really, really badly for all the seniors," Green said, "but especially (Brynn Shoup-Hill) and (Bostic) being from Indiana. Playing over here two times, we have been so, so close and (this) was the day. I said, we needed to get a win here and be able to walk out of this gym finally with a win, and proud of our seniors for getting that done."