Taren OBrien is going to her home state, Missouri, to play for Illinois State Thursday against Southwest Missouri State and the Redbirds leading scorer is hoping her team can earn a C for the effort.
That would be C for Consistency. The Redbirds are hoping to show the kind of consistent play which helped them win back-to-back road games at Southern Illinois and Evansville in mid-January ... the kind of consistency lacking in four straight home losses since that SIU/UE sweep.
OBrien boiled her teams recent struggles down to putting different parts of the game together consistently.
We would be very good on defense, but not on offense, said OBrien, a Savannah, Mo., native who also leads the Redbirds in assists. We would get our rebounding going, but we wouldnt get the defense we need. Its up to us. We have to be more consistent. It doesnt matter if were playing at home or on the road.
The Bears, 10-10 overall, 6-5 in the Missouri Valley, have been more successful since a 58-54 loss Jan. 16 at Illinois State. OBrien and senior Sharon Blade carried the offensive load for the Redbirds in that game with 15 and 11 points, respectively. ISU made 16 of 17 free throws and took the lead for good when freshman Sara Stevenson hit a jumper with 1:23 left.
Redbird coach Jenny Yopp enjoyed the victory.
We played tough against SMS and it was a game that went down to time-and-score the whole second half, said Yopp. It will be different (at Hammons Student Center). SMS has tremendous sixth-man support.
SMS coach Katie Abrahamson-Henderson respects OBrien and the Redbirds, hoping her team is able to adjust to Illinois States defensive sets better this time.
They did a good job against us defensively and we didnt do a good job when they switched defenses, said Abrahamson-Henderson, in her first year in Springfield. Our team will be working on that. Taren OBrien is a great player and we have to be attentive to what they are trying to do. Now, our players know how good Illinois State is.
The Redbirds, 5-15 overall, 3-8 in the Valley, have five of their last seven games on the road. Normally, that doesnt look promising, but three of Illinois States five wins this season have come away from home. The Birds are striving to become the first Illinois State team in 19 years with more road wins than home victories.
We have to come out with our confidence up and our intensity up, said Yopp. We have to bring a tremendous amount of intensity and belief to these games.
ISUs road trip ends with a Saturday match at Wichita State.
