Kristi Larson had 11 points and 11 rebounds, while
Katie Donovan added 10 points and 13 rebounds, and the Redbird defense held an all-star team from the National Womens Basketball League to just .284 field goal shooting in a 74-63 exhibition win Wednesday at Redbird Arena.
Donovan, a freshman, had nine of her rebounds in the first half and had 11 offensive rebounds in the game. ISU had a 13-2 edge in points off turnovers, even though the Birds had 30 turnovers in the game.
Once our younger players learn better ball control, we wont have those turnovers, said ISU coach
Jenny Yopp. We knew (Donovan) would be a special player. God gave her a lot of ability and she works hard and she loves it.
Sophomore
Beth Huston, who had 10 points and 5 assists, thought the Redbirds played the way they wanted to. Yopp thought her team passed well, with 20 assists on 27 field goals.
Beth and
Stacey White and Katie (Donovan) all have really strong passing skills, said Yopp. Were more of an open-court team now, and well see those kinds of passes.
Huston said the Redbirds liked the tempo, which produced a lot of possessions.
We expected to run, fast-break and rebound, said Huston. We played some strong players tonight, and they knew how to bang and be tough. last year I caught it and wanted to get rid of it. This year, I think I can make decisions and take care of the ball.
Illinois States defense and rebounding helped the Birds take an 8-2 lead in the first six minutes, but then the Birds went on an 0-7 shooting draught and the NWBL team took a 10-8 lead on a Vivian Johnson layup with 10:55 left in the first half.
ISU broke back on top as Huston drained a three-pointer at the 10:11 mark and followed with a nifty assist on
Chris Kutschinskis short jumper a minute later. She added another basket and passed to
Stacey Nickerson for a fast-break assist to help ISU go out to a 19-12 lead.
The Birds took a 31-25 lead to the locker room to go with a 30-22 rebounding advantage while limiting NWBL to 9-33 from the field, just 27 percent. The lead would have been larger for Illinois State, but the Birds made just 7 of 17 free throws.
Taren O'Brien's back-to-back buckets just ahead of the 13-minute mark of the second half capped a 7-0 Redbird run which bumped the lead to 46-32.
The Redbirds play their final exhibition at 1 p.m. Sunday against the Chicago Challengers.
