Taren O'Brien scored a game-high 19 points, including 11 from the free throw line, to lead the Illinois State womens basketball team past Wichita State, 68-64, in conference action Thursday night at Redbird Arena.
OBrien left the game around the 12-minute mark of the second period with a cut on her chin and despite the injury, she came back to lead the Birds to victory. ISU, 5-12, 3-5, outrebounded the Shockers on the boards, 38-36. Illinois State had three other players in double figures with
Stacey White chipping in 13,
Katie Donovan with 11 and
Steph Reichle contributing 10. Reichle and Donovan had nine rebounds each.
The Shockers, 8-9, 3-5, lose for the second time in two games and Wichita State won the previous four meetings against ISU. The Redbirds attempted a season-high 37 free throws, hitting 24.
Were a beat-up team right now, said Wichita State head coach Darryl Smith. We have letting teams beat us all season long. The team just isnt responding to my coaching.
Angela Buckner, who finished with 18 points and 16 rebounds, had six points in the first six minutes to help Wichita State take a 14-8 lead, but Illinois State kicked into high gear, scoring on five of six possessions, with a 10-0 run to take an 18-14 lead on Whites bank shot with 11:33 left. Jennifer Kaczka broke the string with two free throws with 11:14 left. Then, a Reichle three-pointer, another by White and steal-and-layup plays by OBrien and Reichle put ISU up 28-16.
The Redbirds stretched the lead to 32-19 on a
Kristi Larson back-door layup with 3:28 left in the half. Wichita cut that lead to 36-27 at the intermission. ISU shot 56 percent in the first half to WSUs 31 percent and forced 13 Shocker turnovers.
ISU had a 47-37 lead on Reichles two free throws with 13:39 left in the game. Kaczka responded with a layup and Raeven King scored at 12:42 while being defended by OBrien, who had to leave at that point with a cut on her chin.
OBrien returned with 8:28 left, but Tisharria Huggins cut the Redbird lead to 50-48 nine seconds later with a three-pointer from the corner. Two Reichle free throws and an old-fashioned three-point play by White put ISU back up by seven with 7:15 left. WSU trimmed it back to two on two Carlisa Dixon free throws with 6:13 left.
The Redbirds continued to get stops on the defensive end, holding the Shockers to only one field goal from the 7:02 mark to inside two minutes left, when ISU led 63-56 on two free throws by Donovan.
The fouls continued to come from the Shockers and ISU went to the line six times before the end of the game, connecting on five. It was enough to seal the win as a made free throw by Reichle at the :01.4 second mark secured the victory.
Obviously Wichita State is a very physical and strong team, Illinois State head coach
Jenny Yopp said. Most of the players were a little more experienced and understood their size so we knew how to play against them.
Right now we are a little bloody and bruised, but basketball is a very physical sport, Yopp continued. You never knew what was going to happen in this game so we just played every moment to the best of our ability, even when Taren was off the court.
