A strong second half in their 89-70 win at Air Force has Illinois States players looking forward to the opportunity to play their 1 p.m. Saturday game at Loyola.
The Redbirds, 2-4, had been struggling defensively for much of the season, including a first half in which Air Force scored 44 points, before ISU started to play the kind of defense they wanted (Air Force shot 21 percent after halftime) and getting offense from it (17 points off turnovers in the second half for ISU).
Senior forward Katie Donovan saw the improvement.
Our press was working, said Donovan, who led all players with 26 points and added a team-high 10 rebounds. And, when that happens, we get to use our defense to set-up our offense.
The defensive aggression included 10 Redbird steals in 12 second-half Falcon turnovers. Jaci McCormack had a season-high four steals in the game. McCormack thought the defense at Air Force was more like what her team wants to play.
Our defense fuels our offense, said McCormack. Getting stops helps us with our offense. It picks up our intensity when we focus on our jobs and take away opposing player strengths. I think we did a good job (at Air Force) of putting pressure on the ball and forcing them to go a little faster than they wanted to at times.
Loyola, 3-6, is coached by former Southern Illinois assistant Mary Helen Walker. This will be the fifth game in 11 days for the Ramblers, who have lost three straight including a 74-68 overtime heartbreaker at IUPUI on Wednesday. Jenna Real led the Ramblers at IUPUI with 15 points and 12 rebounds, but she fouled out in the first minute of overtime.
Redbird coach Robin Pingeton used her fifth different starting lineup at Air Force, including McCormack, Donovan and Megan MeCracken on the perimeter with Amber Shelton and Michelle Harakas in the posts.
The Redbirds come home to Redbird Arena for a pair of games before Christmas starting with a 2:05 p.m. Dec. 19 game with Texas-El Paso followed by a 7:05 p.m. Dec. 21 game with Illinois.
