The eighth and final berth in the 2001 State Farm-Missouri Valley Conference Womens Basketball Tournament is on the line as Illinois State travels to Bradley for a 7 p.m. Thursday game at Robertson Fieldhouse.
The Redbirds, 5-20 overall, 3-13 in the Valley, have to win to stay in the fight for that spot. Bradley, 9-15, 4-12, can clinch that No. 8 spot with a win.
ISU second-year coach
Jenny Yopp is looking forward to this version of the War on 74 because of whats at stake.
Its an exciting time, said Yopp. There will be a tremendous atmosphere and lots of fans of both teams there (at Robertson) . Both teams will be extremely focused on the task at hand. This will determine if we get to play past this weekend.
The Birds need to either win Thursday at Bradley and Saturday at Northern Iowa, or win at Bradley and get help from an Evansville win at Southern Illinois on Saturday. BU gets in with a win no matter what happens on Saturday when they finish the regular season against Indiana State.
While Yopp admits enjoying the challenge of tournament-repercussion basketball in late February, she wants her players to prepare just to beat Bradley--not to take on the extra baggage of the rivalry or repercussions.
For us, the challenge is to be focused on what we need to do to beat Bradley, said Yopp, whose Redbirds beat the Braves 79-60 on Dec. 30 to open the Valley season. Because of the kind of team we have, we need to defend them well and push the ball up the court. The fact that their inside players all have perimeter skills will challenge us to defend them, but we feel our post players have the match-up advantage against them when we are on offense.
Freshman
Sharon Blade, a Peoria native, had the advantage in the first meeting, scoring a career-high 25 points. Since that game, junior
Kristi Larson is seeing more minutes and playing more effectively. Senior
Nadia Peruch has played some of the best basketball of her career in recent weeks, matching her career high with 18 points against Southern Illinois and picking up a career-high 13 rebounds in the Redbirds win over Evansville.
Bradleys first-year coach, Paula Buscher, a former Illinois State assistant, hopes her four seniors--Jenn Jolley, Mandy Reash and Marti Davis--all get a chance to go to the tournament for the first time.
Our seniors havent been there before and that has been a goal since the first time I had a chance to talk to our seniors, said Buscher. Im satisfied with what this team has done because we have faced a lot of adversity during the season. Getting a chance to get to the tournament would be great ... seeing what we could do after we got there would be another great thing.
The Braves faced much of their adversity before the season started. The tragic death of center Lynn Pastucha, injuries and roster changes have kept the Bradleys bench thin. A lack of size inside has Jolley--who began her college career as a guard--playing center, but Bradley has battled through it. Sara Bailey has emerged as the leagues No. 2 scorer behind national scoring leader Jackie Stiles of Southwest Missouri State.
Bailey and Jolley are difficult players to defend, said Yopp. Bradley has played tough basketball all year and theres no reason to expect anything else. Our players have to come ready to match their competitive level.
The regular season concludes for ISU with a 3 p.m. Saturday game at Northern Iowa.
