A change in the starting five which adds 5-foot-11 junior Stacey White in place of 5-foot-6 junior Desiree Gutierrez will be something different for the Illinois State womens basketball team in its 7:05 p.m. Thursday game in Redbird Arena with Southwest Missouri State. But head coach Jenny Yopp doesnt believe the challenge will change for her Redbirds.
We need to put 40 minutes together and avoid those runs, said Yopp, whose Redbirds have fallen victim to a few minutes of domination in each of their first three conference games. Illinois State, 2-10 overall, 0-3 in the Missouri Valley, out-scored three of its last four opponents in the second half during its current four-game losing streak. With freshman forward Sophie Tirtiaux sidelined by a stress fracture, Yopp has one less option on what might be the leagues deepest bench.
Katie Donovan, a 6-foot perimeter player who is among the Valley leaders in rebounding this season, thinks the Redbirds have to focus on one play at a time to avoid falling victim to opponents spurts.
Sometimes we try to do too much in one possession, said Donovan. Then we get frustrated. We have to keep that from happening just by trying to execute one play at a time ... not trying to do too much.
Donovans board work has done plenty lately. With a game-high 11 at Bradley, she is averaging 8.0 rebounds per game over the last six contests. Senior Steph Reichle, a pretty good rebounder herself before career-ending injuries, keeps Donovan on track and on the boards.
Rebounding should be my focus, said Donovan, who played on the Canadian Under-19 National Team last summer. Earlier in the year, I was worried about my shots going in and got away from that. Steph keeps me focused on rebounding. She says things like get seven (rebounds) in the first half. She helps me with little challenge like that.
Yopp appreciates it when Donovan feels challenged.
The one thing about Katie is that she wont back down from a challenge, said Yopp.
Yopp, who will start junior guard Taren OBrien plus sophomores Donovan, Michelle Harakas and Erin Keeney against SMS, knows the Lady Bears are playing well coming off a pair of home-court wins against league favorites Drake and Creighton last weekend. The Bears, who already have the 2002 Valley Freshman of the Year in Jenni Lingor, have been getting big performances lately from junior college transfer Meg Tierney and freshman guard Kari Koch. All three average in double figures scoring.
SMS is a solid team, said Yopp. Their newcomers are familiar from the recruiting process, so their success does not surprise us.
The Creighton and Drake wins have SMS, 7-6, 3-1, tied for third in the Valley race with ISUs next opponent, Wichita State, and behind co-leaders Evansville and Indiana State, both 3-0. First-year coach Katie Abrahamson-Henderson has changed the look of the Lady Bear defense, shifting from man-to-man to zone at a place where man-to-man dominated during the 15-year coaching tenure of Cheryl Burnett, who took the team to two NCAA Final Fours before resigning after last season.
Yopp sees the SMS game as typical of the challenges her team will face game-after-game in a Valley lineup which might be the strongest in league history from top-to-bottom.
We know nobodys going to make it easy for us, said Yopp. The conference is aewsome. We expect another major challenge this weekend from both SMS and Wichita State (7:05 p.m. Saturday).
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