Katie Donovan may be the No. 2 scorer in the Missouri Valley Conference, but the Illinois State junior forward and her head coach, Robin Pingeton, both were more excited about the assist column than Donovans 21 points in Tuesdays 81-67 Redbird win at IUPUI.
Donovan collected six assists at IUPUI, leading to a pair of layups by Zora Skrabalova, a three-pointer and a short jumper by Erin Keeney, a layup for Taren OBrien and a three-pointer by Jaci McCormack. Donovan, who leads the Redbirds with 20.2 points per game and is second on the team with 3.7 assists per game, likes what passing does for ISUs offense, which included her 21 points at IUPUI plus 20 by McCormack and a career-high 16 by Skrabalova.
Hearing about the 6 assists, thats a big deal to me because it means were opening up our offense and we have a lot of people involved, said Donovan. When I see the defense wanting to help on me, I know there will be a teammate ready for a pass and a good shot. We have a lot of scoring threats. Other teams have a lot to deal with.
Offensive success for Illinois State, which is averaging 68.7 points per game as a team, is coming off the pass. The Redbirds have had assists recorded on 68 percent of their field goals this season. No other Redbird team has gone through a season with higher than 64 percent. In the second half at IUPUI, 11 of ISUs 13 baskets were assisted.
Its great to see our balanced scoring, said Pingeton, whose 3-3 Redbirds are looking for their third straight win in a 7:05 p.m. Thursday game with Portland State at Redbird Arena. Then to see Katie Donovan with six assists ... that says a lot not just about her but about the way our team is playing right now.
Pingeton thinks unselfishness is at the root of Redbird success.
The assists show how unselfish this team is, said Pingeton. We have 13 players and all are working hard. Nobody is complaining about starting positions or minutes. Everybody is putting the team first. We still have room for improvement in a lot of areas, but I am pleased with the effort of this team.
A season-high 14 team steals at IUPUI is an indicator that the defense is working hard, too.
I see that IUPUI had 16 turnovers and we had 14 steals, said Pingeton. Again, thats effort. And it builds confidence. Our girls are playing awfully hard right now. Overall, I think were headed in the right direction.
That direction for the 3-3 Redbirds included climbing over the .500 mark for the first time since Dec., 1999. Portland State, a team which beat the Birds 72-54 last year in Portland, features a balanced offense which starts with senior point guard Jane Gowans 10.5 points, 3.0 rebounds and 3.8 assists per game. The Vikings, 2-6, are fresh from Tuesdays 61-60 win over UC-Irvine which snapped a three-game losing streak.
ISU finishes four games in eight days with a 1:05 p.m. Sunday game at Butler.
