Although plenty has changed and four weeks have passed since the last Illinois State women's basketball home game, some of the faces might look familiar to Redbird fans attending Monday's 7:05 p.m. match-up with the Indiana Hoosiers in Redbird Arena ... even a couple of faces on the Indiana side.
Fans likely will remember Hoosier head coach is Kathi Bennett from her days leading Evansville into prominence in the Missouri Valley Conference in the late 1990s. One of Indiana's stars is Lisa Eckart, who was a first-team all-Valley selection in 2001 at Evansville before following her former coach to Bloomington. Eckart averages 11 points and 6 rebounds per game in addition to leading the Hoosiers, 6-3, in three-point field goals.
Jenny Yopp's Redbirds finished four straight road games with a 61-59 win Dec. 22 at Portland, a team with a high-powered offense. Junior Taren O'Brien (18 ppg in her last three games) and senior Sharon Blade (shooting .600 from the field in her last four games) have emerged as team leaders in addition to reliable scorers. Yopp believes defense is where her team has improved most during the four weeks away from competition at Redbird Arena.
"Probably the area we've seen the most progress in the last three weeks is defense," said Yopp, whose Redbirds are 2-6 heading into their final non-conference game. The 'Birds start the league season against Indiana State at 2:05 p.m. Saturday in Redbird Arena.
The Redbirds defended well against Portland's offense, designed to spread the floor and isolate defenders. But Yopp believes that is a different challenge from defending Bennett's motion attack.
"Indiana sets a lot of screens and has tremendous teamwork," said Yopp. "They work very hard away from the ball to create opportunities. Our defense is much better, but Indiana will be a tremendous challenge for us over the course of 40 minutes."
Yopp admires the versatility of Eckart and Jenny DeMuth, Indiana's leading scorer at 13.7 points per game.
"We've seen Lisa, of course, from her days at Evansville and know what she can do," said Yopp. "DeMuth, and their other players, compliment each other so well. We will have to work hard to put together consecutive stops against them."
Yopp is pleased with the confidence her team is showing.
"I think the break (three days for Christmas) came at the right time for us," said Yopp. "I think we left Portland with a new sense of confidence."
Leadership in tough situations is part of the developing confidence and the Yopp believes she--and the rest of the Redbirds--can lean on O'Brien and Blade when times are tough.
"Taren and Sharon have been rock solid," said Yopp. "They have become the core of this team."
The supporting cast hasn't been bad, either. Nearly half of the Redbird points this season have been scored by non-starters and nine different ISU players have started at least one game. Flexibility and depth have been a big difference for the Redbirds this season over recent years, when ISU's thin numbers and lack of experience frequently were deciding factors on the court.
"We just need to continue to work hard and play better together," said Yopp.
