Kristin Stewart and Melanie Boeglin led four Sycamores in double figures with 16 points apiece as Indiana State used a mid-second-half run to pull away from Illinois State for a 70-51 Indiana State victory Saturday at Redbird Arena.
Indiana State, 8-2, 1-0 in the Valley, also got 10 points each from Kourtney Mennen and Celeste Hlebovy as the Sycamores started the Missouri Valley Conference schedule by avenging a 70-67 loss at Redbird Arena in the 2002 regular-season finale. Indiana State had 14 steals in the game compared to just two Redbird takeaways and shot 45 percent (23-for-51) from the field.
Illinois State, 2-8, 0-1 in the Valley, was led by Katie Donovan with 13 points, while Zora Skrabalova and Erin Keeney each contributed 11 points for the Birds. Skrabalova has been hampered by the flu over the last two days. Turnovers plagued the Redbirds throughout the game as Illinois State committed 25 in the game to Indiana States 10. The Birds won the rebounding battle against the Sycamores 43-29 with Keeney and Donovan each collecting eight boards. However, Illinois State shot only 34 percent (18-for-53) from the field, including only 29 percent in the first half.
Keeney said the Redbirds just needed some players to step up.
We have to be mentally tough and we have to get that from all of our players, said Keeney. Today, we didnt and we need more of our players to step up on the court.
This is pretty much the way we have played all season, said Sycamore coach Jim Wiedie. We werent as active on defense in the last five minutes of the first half and that made our offense sluggish.
Illinois State coach Jenny Yopp felt that the turnovers told the tale in todays game.
We handled the press pretty well, then once the ball got past the halfcourt we lost control of the ball or we threw the ball too deep into the baseline, said Yopp. We need to be stronger with the basketball and get our opportunities off of that. It is one thing to use a lot of players when they are all on the same page, but today we had to use a lot of players to find a combination on the court.
Illinois State beat the Sycamore press and got some open looks early, but the Birds hit just 3 of their first 15 and Indiana State sprinted to an 20-9 lead in the first 12 minutes. The Redbirds were able to chop that lead down to as few as seven, but missed some more close-in shots in the final five minutes of the first half and went to intermission trailing 29-20 after making just 8 of 28 from the field. Skrabalova gave the Birds a lift with nine points and three rebounds as Illinois State out-rebounded the Sycamores 22-17 in the first half.
A short jumper by Erin Keeney and a three-pointer by Taren OBrien brought the Redbirds within four at 29-25 in the first two minutes of the second half. Indiana State answered, scoring the next eight points to take a 37-25 lead. Illinois State kept creeping back close, but the Sycamores kept answering. A Sophie Tirtiaux layup with 12:54 left brought the Birds within 39-33, but Kristen Stewarts muscling shot inside started a 12-0 Sycamore run to give Indiana State its biggest to that point, 53-33 with 7:36 left.
The Redbirds go on the road to face Northern Iowa on Thursday and then Bradley in Peoria on Saturday.
