For the first five minutes, Illinois State held all-American Jackie Stiles to one shot--a miss. In the next 13 minutes, Stiles poured in three-pointers, pull-up jumpers and driving layups to produce 19 of her game-high 39 points to lead Southwest Missouri State to an 86-51 win over Illinois State.
Illinois State, 3-10, 1-3 in the Valley, hung with the Bears in the first half thanks to five three-point field goals. They managed only 23 points in the second half, 10 of those by Nadia Peruch, who led the Redibrds with 14 for the game.
Stiles, the Missouri Valley Conferences all-time scoring leader, wasnt finished at halftime, though. She hit a pair of free throws and a pair of long three-pointers to score the first eight points of the second half as the Bears, 9-3, 3-1 in the Valley, stretched a 12-point lead into 26 before Taren OBriens layup with 15:09 left broke thethe draught, but not the domination.
Redbird coach Jenny Yopp was impressed with Stiles, even though the Birds slowed her early in the game.
Jackie does what the team needs, said Yopp. Even though she hurts your team, you enjoy watching what she can do on a basketball court. Shes just a fantastic player.
Yopp was dissatisfied with her teams effort in the second half, but through the SMS environment was a good one for her team to experience.
Southwest came out and cranked it to a higher gear and we didnt execute the things we should, said Yopp. It was a learning experience, though, and well be better for it in the long run. Southwest has a great environment, great fans.
SMS, before a sell-out crowd of 8,866, out-shot the Redbirds 52.3 percent to 28.3 for the game. The Bears also had a 46-33 rebounding advantage led by Erika Rantes 10. Rantes 11 points made her the only other player in double figures.
DJ Flournoy grabbing 9 rebounds in her first college start, the Redbird defense came out strong in the first five minutes, limiting the Bears, the highest scoring team in the league, to 2-11 from the field and Stiles to just one shot. A three-pointer by Jaci McCormack, the first of five in the half by the Redbirds, tied the score at 5-5.
After the first media time out, Stiles got SMS going with back-to-back three-pointers on the baseline, then added a short jumper before Rante converted a layup and SMS was off on a 14-0 run, taking a 19-5 lead at the 11-minute mark. ISU trailed by 10 or more the rest of the half.
The Bears took a 40-28 lead to the intermission thanks to 16 of 23 shooting in the last 15 minutes. The taller Bears also had a 23-14 rebounding edge in the first half.
But Yopp thought her team lost its aggressiveness in the second half.
Our kids didnt have tough enough skin, said Yopp. We have to get stronger and tougher to play the No. 14 team in the nation on its home floor.
Next week, the Redbirds play Creighton at home on Friday and Drake on Jan. 14.
