With the opening of the new Convocation Center at Northern Illinois University last month, Illinois State is bidding to become the first foe to win on the Huskies' new home court in a 4:05 p.m. women's basketball game Saturday.
Lately, the Redbirds have not been able to shake that one bad spurt wich ends up the difference in the game. Illinois created space with a 13-0 run midway through the first half of its Sunday win at Redbird Arena. Similarly, Illinois-Chicago hit the 'Birds with an 18-1 second-half jolt to pull away from a two-point lead over Illinois State on Thursday. Both games were close for all but those few fatal minutes.
Developing consistency will shorten or eliminate those stretches, according to Redbird coach Jenny Yopp.
"Consistency is the key thing," said Yopp. "We're still searching for it, but the players are believing and working hard. The chemistry on the court will come. But we need toconsistently finish defensive stops without fouling and consistently run our offense the way we should."
The Redbirds, who already are without senior guard Steph Reichle for the foreseeable future, have gotten only a handful of miutes from sophomore Jaci McCormack in recent games. Both are suffering from ankle ailments. McCormack will have hers repaired with a non-surgical procedure next week.
"Jaci's ankle slows her down physically," said Yopp. "She gets tired a lot quicker and can't go for long spurts on the court. She'll have the procedure Tuesday, then stay off the ankle for about seven days and then it should feel better. She should be ready by the 20th (the Portland State game). Steph walked around with a shoe on that (injured) foot for about a day and a half, but it wasn't ready for that."
The Huskies, 2-3, opened their new facility with an eye-opening win over Wisconsin. Most recently, NIU fell short at Wisconsin-Milwaukee in a dual of long-range scorers as UWM's Jessica Willhite (31 points) outgunned NIU sharpshooter Kristan Knake (29 points). Willhite made eight three-pointes and Knake made five. Knake is one of three NIU players averaging in double figures with 14.8 points per game.
Like the Redbirds, NIU averages more than 20 turnovers per game. NIU shoots 41 percent from three-point range and 76 percent from the foul line, but the Huskie defense concerns Yopp most.
"Coach (Carol) Hammerle has Northern playing aggressive defense," said Yopp. "We can expect them to come right at us."
Illinois State has been getting a lot of mileage out of its depth, with nonstarters scoring nearly half of the Redbird points this season. Veteran Sharon Blade and first-year player Erin Keeney each had 13 points in a non-starting role at Illinois-Chicago.
"Erin and Sharon really played well on Thursday," said Yopp. "Sharon prefers to come off the bench and we like her, as well as Jaci, in that role. Erin seems to be developing that confidence you need to play at this level. She gives us a spark on the court."
After the DeKalb trip, the Redbirds don't play another game for 13 days before meeting Portland State Dec. 20. Illinois State final examinations begin Monday.
