July 26, 2006

Complete Game & Overall Tour Stats in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader

OSLO, Norway - Five conference standouts, led by Illinois' Lori Bjork and Indiana's Leah Enterlline, scored in double figures Wednesday in a 97-55 victory over Oslo/Akershus BBC, which marked the finale of the Big Ten Women's Basketball Foreign Tour.  Bjork led all scorers with 14 points, followed by Enterline's 13 and three players - Northwestern's A.J. Glasauer and Penn State's Rashida Mark and Brianne O'Rourke - with 11 points each.

Bjork did most of her damage from the perimeter, knocking down 3-of-6 from beyond the arc, while Enterline, who also swiped a team-best six steals, provided her scoring output in transition.  Mark missed only one of her seven shots and added eight rebounds as well, however Wisconsin's Danielle Ward held the rebounding game-high with 11 caroms.

Wednesday's win marked the 23rd-consecutive win over the past five years and its fifth-straight undefeated Foreign Tour.  Since the inception of the Tour in 1992, which has been held annually except for 2003, the All-Stars have gone 55-18 (.753).

The Big Ten All-Stars jumped out to a 14-4 lead in the first 10-minute period and did not look back.  Purdue's Katie Gearlds scored the team's final six points in the first quarter en route to an all-around performance of nine points, seven rebounds and a team-high four assists.

All 12 student-athletes that played Wednesday scored.  Illinois' Erin McCarthy and Michigan State's Rene Haynes added six points each, Minnesota's Leslie Knight and Ohio State's Tamarah Riley posted five apiece, while Iowa's Megan Skouby recorded four and Wisconsin's Ward finished with two.

As a team, the All-Stars finished 41-of-84 (.488) from the floor and 11-of-18 (.611) from the free-throw line.  The 97 points was a Tour high for the team and was the highest scoring total since the All-Stars posted 110 against the Luxembourg Musel Pikes in their finale victory during last year's trip.

Enterline, Haynes, Mark, O'Rourke and Riley all earned the final starting honors for Illinois head coach Theresa Grentz.

For the entire 10-day, four-game Tour, Bjork led all scorers with 10.3 points per contest, while Ward led the rebounders with 7.3 boards per game.  Additional categorical leaders include Enterline in assists (3.0), Gearlds in steals (3.5) and Skouby in blocks (1.5).  O'Rourke also led the All-Stars in starts, beginning three of the four international games.

The Big Ten squad will spend Thursday in Oslo, before boarding the Crown of Scandinavia cruise ship for an overnight trip back to Copenhagen, Denmark.  Upon arrival in Copenhagen, the team will have a few hours for last-minute shopping and will fly back to the U.S. just after noon.  The All-Stars are expected in to Chicago's O'Hare airport around 5:30 p.m. CT.  For continued Tour coverage, including results, stats, photos and entertaining diaries of the student-athletes, log on to www.bigten.org.