For the past three seasons, Illinois women’s basketball featured a group of role players known throughout the Big Ten. Forward Kendall Bostic played a traditional big role inside and averaged a double-double. Guards Makira Cook, Adalia McKenzie, and especially Genesis Bryant patrolled the perimeter, found open teammates, and created big offensive moments. After the 2024-25 season, all of them left.
Illinois entered this season without 75.6% of the scoring from last year’s campaign. Normall,y that
would spell a rebuild, but head coach Shauna Greene has a group of freshmen and returning underclassmen who are defying expectations.
So far, the Fighting Illini have a win over a top-10 opponent and battled until the final buzzer against another ranked side. Who is leading the Illinois resurgence? Here are three players to know before No. 19 Ohio State women’s basketball takes on the Illini Wednesday night, in Champaign, Illinois.
Berry Wallace
For Ohio State fans up on Central Ohio high school basketball, forward Berry Wallace is a known commodity. Wallace played at Pickerington Central High School, east of the 270 corridor that circles the city of Columbus. The forward played at the same school as former Buckeye Madison Greene, although there was no overlap in their time at the high school.
Last season, Wallace came off the bench on the veteran-heavy Illini squad in her first 19 appearances. Against Ohio State — Wallace’s second appearance in Illinois’ ninth game of the season due to injury — the forward played 20 minutes and scored eight points. With the players ahead of her on the roster, Wallace was not given the reins of the Illinois offense, and it showed. Wallace averaged 8.8 points in 25.1 minutes per game through the Big Ten Tournament. That improved in the NCAA Tournament, where Wallace scored 23 points in two games, including 12 points and three rebounds against the Texas Longhorns.
The Illinois women’s basketball program lists Wallace as a forward, but there is not one position name that fits the sophomore star, unless it’s directional and not positional. Wallace has full control of the Illini offense this season, and with it, she uses her size to go to the basket with frequency. The 6-foot-1 hybrid forward is 10th in the Big Ten in free throw attempts (191) and sixth in free throw percentage (88.1%).
It does not matter if there are defenders in Wallace’s way; the forward has the means and the confidence to go at them anyway.
Then, when a team starts to hunker down to try and clog the lane, Wallace will shoot from deep. The forward is third on the Illini with 3.5 attempts per game, and Wallace makes them 37.7% of the time.
When the Illinois offense is clicking, it is likely because Wallace is on a hot streak. Wallace averages 18.2 points per game this season, but since Big Ten play started back up three games ago, the sophomore has not had a game scoring less than 20 points. In an upset win over then No. 7-ranked Maryland, Wallace had 22 points, 7 rebounds, and 2 assists in the victory, and that was against a Terrapins team with the size to take on the Pickerington native.
Wallace will be a problem for the Buckeyes, especially if Ohio State guard Kennedy Cambridge gets into foul trouble early and has to miss parts of the game when Wallace is on the court.
Cearah Parchment
Next up is Illinois’ new freshman forward. Cearah Parchment is a 6-foot-3 big who, despite being born on the Fourth of July, is Canadian through and through. Parchment was a four-star forward recruit out of Ontario who has a history of playing on youth international teams in U16 and U17 FIBA tournaments.
At Illinois, Parchment is Green’s starting No. 5, but has similar traits to Wallace. The one thing Parchment does not have is the same speed to the basket. Even so, Parchment can move with the ball, time passes for easy steal opportunities, and she does not look awkward dribbling to the basket, like some collegiate bigs can look.
Where Parchment can hurt teams is on the boards. Parchment already has three double-doubles in her first college season, and the freshman does not appear overwhelmed by the speed and intensity bump going from high school and AAU basketball to college.
A matchup to watch on Wednesday night is between Parchment and Buckeye forward Kylee Kitts. The Ohio State redshirt freshman has a slight size advantage and speed advantage over Parchment, but rebounding is as much about wanting to get the ball as it is wingspan or height.
In 3.9 fewer minutes per game for Kitts, the Ohio State big has 7.5 rebounds per game compared to 7.7 for Parchment. Nearly a dead heat. When Kitts is on, not fouling and into a good rhythm, the forward is hard to stop, but Parchment is someone who can match that intensity.
Another comparison for the two is shooting from beyond the arc. Both of them, if left unguarded, will take shots from three-point range.
Should both forwards stay in their respective programs for the duration of their eligibility, Wednesday could be the first chapter in a long, storied rivalry between the two forwards.
Destiny Jackson
The third player to watch is freshman guard Destiny Jackson, out of Chicago, Illinois. Jackson has a long list of accolades, from No. 25 on the ESPN top 100 prospects of the 2025 class to Gatorade’s Illinois Player of the Year.
Like most of the best players in high school, Jackson was a scorer in her time at Whitney Young Magnet High School. In four seasons, Jackson averaged 17.8 points per game, but at Illinois, the guard moved to a distributor role.
Jackson is fifth in the Big Ten with five assists per game. The freshman guard finds players like Wallace, Parchment, and junior guard Gretchen Dolan to move the Illinois offense forward. Despite being a college freshman, Jackson makes passes that lead her teammates to offensive opportunities and is a key reason why Illinois is a Big Ten team on the rise.
However, the work Jackson does on defense is where life gets difficult for opponents. Take that game against the Maryland Terrapins. Despite having four fouls, Jackson played the entire fourth quarter. In that quarter, the Illini outscored the Terps 21-16. There are not many times that a Brenda Frese-led Maryland team gets outworked late in a game, but Jackson’s defense did not make it easy.
Teammates applaud Jackson as someone who does not look like a freshman, and it is easy to see. Jackson plays a more subdued role in the highlight reels, but is quietly the one impacting games. Against the Terps, Jackson still co-led the team in assists with three, despite playing only 23 minutes. In those 23 minutes, Jackson had the best plus/minus for Illinois at +12.
In other words, when Jackson is on the court, good things will happen for the Illini. How that goes against Ohio State point guard Jaloni Cambridge will be interesting to watch.
