The end of Illinois State's seven-game winning streak came with some value as a learning tool. Senior guard Taren O'Brien and junior forward Erin Keeney believe their team learned something from a 77-72 loss at Creighton after ISU led for more than 30 minutes. The pair want to take an important lesson into Monday's 7:05 p.m. game at Drake.
"We can't just play 34 minutes," said O'Brien, who is one of five Redbirds scoring in double figures during ISU's current 7-1 run over the last eight games. "To beat a good team on the road, you have to finish the job."
Keeney, who hit four three-pointers on the way to a season-high 18 points at Creighton, said her team wasn't happy with coming close to ending Creighton's 12-game home-court winning streak against Illinois State, 8-4, 2-1 in the Valley, and the Jays' 23-game home-court win streak against Missouri Valley teams.
"We're not satisfied," said Keeney, a .500 three-point shooter for ISU over the past eight games. "We're disappointed. It (the Creighton game) was a gmae we could have won and should have won. We really didn't do anything different (late in the game); we just didn't keep doing what we were doing. We don't want that to happen again."
The 'Birds face a Drake team which is 5-7 overall, 2-1 in the Valley coming off a 75-52 thumping of Indiana State. The 75 points were a season best for Drake, which shot 58 percent in the second half. Just as ISU teams have struggled at Creighton, they haven't fared much better at Drake. The Bulldogs have won 10 in a row at home from Illinois State, with the last Redbird victory over DU in Des Moines coming Jan. 4, 1994.
The Bulldogs, under first-year coach Amy Stephens, featured three key players the Valley is seeing for the first time. Sophomore Linda Sayavongchanh, ineligible after the first semester last year, leads DU with 10.5 points, 3.8 assists and 3.8 steals per game. Freshman Jill Martin had 15 points and 8 rebounds against Indiana State, while freshman Whitney Pegram tied a league record with 8 blocked shots against the Sycamores.
Redbird coach Robin Pingeton's team, which already has surpassed its 2002-03 season total, is dramatically improved on offense, led by Valley scoring leader Katie Donovan. The 'Birds have scored 70 or more points in their last five games, the first time an ISU team has scored at least 70 five times in a row since January, 1991.
Three-point field goals have been a big part of that effort. Donovan already has made 25 this season, followed by Keeney and Jaci McCormack with 18, O'Brien with 11 and Stacey White with nine. ISU's 92 team treys are just 21 short of the single-season ISU record of 113 set in 1996-97. Averaging 7.7 three-pointers per game, ISU figures to break that season mark some time during its upcoming homestand.
The Redbirds return to Redbird Arena for three straight home league games starting Friday at 7:05 p.m. against Evansville.
