Coming off a 79-57 Sunday loss to Western Michigan, the Illinois State University women's basketball team meets a second straight Mid-America Conference foe in Ball State at 6 p.m. Tuesday in Muncie, Ind. A bright spot in the WMU loss was Sophie Tirtiaux's 19 points off the bench and Illinois State coach Robin Pingeton saw the value in her efforts.
"Sophie did some good things," said Pingeton after the game. "We hope she can go on from here."
Tirtiaux has led an effective bench brigade for the Redbirds, 1-1, so far this season. Non-starters have scocred 74 of Illinois State's 142 points. Led by Tirtiaux's .727 field goal percent, Redbird subs are shooting .441 as a group.
Whether it's starters or subs, though, Pingeton is looking for better productivity on the boards than the 50-36 disadvantage ISU had vs. WMU, the defending Mid-America Conference Tournament Champion.
Ball State, 3-2, has won three straight behind the 1-2 punch of Kate Endress and Johna Goff, who combine for 32 points per game. Endress was the Most valueable Player of the ECU Pirate Invitational at Greenville, N.C. over the weekend, collecting 41 points by hitting 15 of 24 field goals. Goff had 31 points for the tournament.
BSU coach Tracy Roller, who played against Illinois State in her early-1990s college days at Eastern Illinois, has two assistant coaches on her staff with Illinois State ties.
Stephanie White, the 1999 NCAA Player of the Year for NCAA Champion Purdue, is the older sister of Redbird forward Stacey White and also played in Redbird Arena in the 1999 NCAA Midwest Regional Tournament.
Duffy Burns was a men's basketball assistant in the mid-1980s at Illinois State, serving on Bob Donewald's staff. Burns recently was the head women's basketball coach at Cleveland State.
The Cardinals will hope to contain Katie Donovan, who had 22 points in the Redbirds' win over Air Force and 11 more against Western Michigan. She drew extra attention from the Bronco defense.
"Teams will double- and triple-team Katie," said Pingeton. "We need her to learn to deal with that and we need other players to step up."
ISU, which hit 13 of 41 three-pointers against Air Force, made just 4 of 17 against WMU.
"Our shots weren't falling," said Pingeton. "We didn't play up to our potential. We need to get better on a daily basis."
Erin Keeney has emerged as the Redbirds' leading rebounder with seven in each game. Taren O'Brien leads the 'Birds with 12 assists and 3 steals. She also has taken seven charges in two games.
After the Ball State game, the Redbirds take on Illinois at 1:30 p.m. Saturday in the United Center in Chicago.
