The Illinois State women's basketball team hasn't faced an opponent since Dec. 7, but coach Jenny Yopp's Redbirds have hardly been idle. They will find out how much their 'mini-preseason,' conducted over the past two weeks, pays off starting with a 9 p.m. (central time) match against Yopp's old school, Portland State at the Peter W. Stott Center.
Yopp, who revitalized Portland State's program as its head coach in the late 1990s, thinks her current Redbird team has learned more about itself as a unit during the break in the game schedule.
"The most significant thing about the last 14 days is that we have been able to improve our chemistry and execution on the court," said Yopp, whose 1-5 Redbirds face a 2-4 PSU team. Both squads have lost their last three games.
A former point guard herself, Yopp has placed an emphasis on better quarterbacking to give her team's offense more opportunities to use its various weapons.
"We're looking for our point guards (juniors Desiree Gutierrez and Taren O'Brien) to do a better job of managing the team on the court and we think our offensive execution will improve from that," said Yopp. "Defensively, I think we have reached a higher level. We've added a couple of things to our (basic) defense and I think that will help us."
Perhaps the biggest emphasis has been on rebounding--an area where the overall Redbird season stats show balance, but the game-by-game box scores indicate inconsistency.
"We've stressed rebounding as 'the glue' which finishes our defensive efforts and can be the finish on good offensive possessions," said Yopp. "We spent a couple of days at the start (of the gameless period) really working hard on rebounding. We came out of that with some bumps and bruises, but certainly a better understanding--as a team--of how much rebounding is 'the glue' that holds things together."
Portland State, a member of the Big Sky Conference, has a valued offensive weapon in senior Nikki Petticrew, a player Yopp remembers from recruiting experience.
"Nikki is certainly a top perimeter scoring threat," said Yopp, whose team stays in Portland to play Sunday at the University of Portland before finishing the non-conference schedule Dec. 30 vs. Indiana in Redbird Arena.
