CHAMPAIGN – Theresa Grentz has warned her team to be on its guard this week.

Or, more specifically, to be on Northwestern's guards.

CHAMPAIGN – Point guard Krista Reinking sat at the end of the bench in street clothes, her sprained right ankle tightly wrapped.

Forward Ashley Berggren, in uniform and in full health, had joined her. Again. Twenty-four seconds into the second half, Berggren picked up foul No. 4. This after playing only nine minutes during the first half due to three fouls.

If ever the depth of this University of Illinois women's basketball team would be put to the test, this was it.

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. – Attention, Big Ten Conference women's basketball teams: There is hope after all when you step on Penn State's court.

Illinois emphatically proved that Friday night, striking a blow for the rest of the league and striking a blow to the Nittany Lions' longstanding home mastery over Big Ten rivals.

CHAMPAIGN – A senior, Ann Henderson is old enough to remember when second semester meant second division in the Big Ten for the University of Illinois women's basketball team.

Now the schedule's out of whack. Classes resume Tuesday and the Illini are a game out of first place.

Stats to date

CHAMPAIGN – Room service, ice machines, wake-up calls. Ashley Berggren and her University of Illinois basketball teammates know all about them.

   CHAMPAIGN  Alicia Sheeler wasn''t naive. The 6-foot-3 center knew what she was getting into by transferring to a new school.

   She knew it would mean sitting out an entire basketball season, as mandated by NCAA transfer rules.

MINNEAPOLIS – Illinois was the last Big Ten Conference women's basketball team to lose to Minnesota. On Friday night, the Illini almost became the next.