By Maria Borri

Sports Editor

The Lady Eagles are holding strong throughout the season even with their two leading scorers injured. IVCC currently stands at a 3-2 conference record and overall at 15-7. The Eagles are ranked third in the conference.

Karissa Dinges tore her ACL at the end of the Kishwaukee game on January 24, and Katie Kohr hurt her shoulder in the opening of the Black Hawk game on January 29.

Coach Crick said he hoped Kohr would be healed up enough to play in the Feb. 7 game against Highland. Kohr contributes a consistent 20 points a game and is the team's guard.

Dinges brought the team good speed and is the other leading scorer for the team. She was named the 2001 All-State All-Area Player of the Year.

"We are going to try to adjust to the loss of our point guard," the coach said. "I think the other players will pull together. It won't be easy to play without her, but we are still going to try to win the conference."

On Feb. 2, the Eagles lost to Illinois Central College 93 –36 at home. For ICC, ranked number two in the country, the win was typical since they are averaging a fifty-point win per game. Three of their players are 6’3".

The Lady Eagles faced a hard match against ICC especially with the two star players injured.

"It would have been a closer game with the two girls (Dinges and Kohr)," Crick said. "It was bad timing to play Illinois Central."

The Jan. 31 game against Black Hawk East was snowed out and rescheduled for Feb. 17.

In the Jan. 29 Black Hawk game, Kohr was injured in the beginning. of the Black Hawk. High scorers were Stokes with 14 and Brown with 11. The final score was 65-42, Black Hawk.

On Jan. 24, the Eagles won against Kishwaukee at home, 75-61. It was a consistent game. The ladies were ahead 36-28 at half-time. Kohr scored 24 and Brown scored 18, both all-season highs.

The previous four games were close at half time, with IVCC pulling ahead in the second half. On Jan. 22, the ladies won against Carl Sandburg, 82-63. Leading scorers were Dinges (22) and Kohr (21).

The Eagles dominated the home court against Rock Valley, 77-57, on Jan. 19. Kohr had

29 and Stokes had 17, This was Stokes' season-high game. She had an excellent second half scoring 13 points.

On Jan. 17, Kohr and Dinges also led their team to another victory over Sauk Valley, 74-49. Kohr scored 25 points and Dinges scored 17 points.

On Jan. 15, Highland took the win at their home court, 78-72. The Eagles trailed just slightly behind.

"We had gone almost a month without playing a game," Crick said about the Highland loss. "The long semester break was a big contributor to the loss."

"Our team as a whole has played so well," Crick said. "Kohr is consistent scoring inthe upper twenties. Dinges had a consistently good speed."

"(Camia) Brown and (Jennifer) Stokes have really came around in the past few games," he continued. "(Leah) Gapinski is the leader in defense, steals, and assists."

Allison Skinner is getting back into playing condition. She just joined the team three weeks ago. The team needed her after losing Lindsey Neill to ineligibility.

IVCC won the conference last year and that is their hope to achieve this year as well.

Upcoming games to mark on the schedule are Highland Feb. 7, Sauk Valley Feb. 9, and Carl Sandburg on Feb. 12.

Highland has not lost a conference game yet.

"It is going to be difficult without our point guard," the coach said. "The team has to reorganize. The hope is for Kohr to be able to play tonight."

Without Dinges in the past two games, the team has scored an average of 39 points a game.

There are eight games left on the season. IVCC has played all the teams on the schedule at least once already.