Seniors Taren OBrien, Beth Huston, Stacey White and Zora Skrabalova make their final appearances in Redbird Arena when Illinois State takes on Wichita State at 2:05 p.m. Sunday. The Redbirds home finale--Fan Appreciation Day--comes on the heels of a 64-47 loss to league-leading SMS, but Illinois State is looking ahead, not back, while trying to continue its most successful season in years.
Fan Appreciation Day could attract one of the top crowds of the season and push the Redbird home attendance to the top three in Illinois State history for a single season. The Birds are averaging 1489 per game this season, an 80 percent increase from last year.
OBrien is confident that the season-low scoring total against the Bears--who were in the Top 25 until a loss at Drake two weeks ago--and shooting struggles wont bother her or her teammates as the Birds take a 15-9 overall record and 9-6 league mark into the game.
We will be focused ahead on Wichita State, said OBrien, who scored 15 points to lead the Redbirds against the Bears and has been averaging more than 14 points per game since suffering a broken nose in mid-January. This team will be ready to go against Wichita State.
Her coach, Robin Pingeton, agrees.
We just dont have time to get our heads down, said Pingeton, whose 15 wins in her first season at Illinois State are eight more than the team won last year, and represent the biggest improvement by any of the 40 Division I teams with new head coaches this season. We have to move full speed ahead. Its a huge game on Sunday and we want to leave it all on the floor for these seniors.
That senior class begins with OBrien, who has emerged as one of the Valleys best point guards this season while ranking among the league leaders in assists, steals, free throw percentage and field goal percentage. It continues with the two-year contributions of Skrabalova, the Valleys leader in field goal percentage this season. White and Huston both rank among the best three-point shooters in school history, and both have made game-winning plays as well.
But the Shockers have a big senior class of their own--six of them, led by Angela Buckner, who will complete her career as the No. 2 rebounder in Missouri Valley history. Buckner will lead the Valley in rebounding four straight years, joining former SMS star Jackie Stiles as the only two Valley players to earn four straight individual conference statistics titles (Stiles lead the league in scoring from 1998 through 2001). Other seniors round out the Shockers top four scorers: Carlesa Dennis at 11.9, April Banks at 10.2 and Tisharria Huggins at 8.8.
OBrien has had a fabulous February for ISU, averaging 17.2 points, 5.0 assists, 2.9 rebounds and 2.0 steals while shooting 48 percent from the field, 38 percent from three-point range and 89 percent from the free throw line. The Redbirds are 4-2 since February began, their best post-January winning percentage in 15 years.
Redbirds are reaching or approaching mileposts as the season winds down. Katie Donovan, who already owns the Redbird single-season record for free throws made, needs nine points to become only the seventh Illinois State player to score 500 in a season. OBrien needs six steals to join Redbird legend Pam Tanner as the only two players in Redbird history with 300 assists, 250 free throws made and 150 steals. Skrabalova, shooting .621 from the field this season and .564 for her career, has a chance to break the single-season mark (.631) and is ahead of the career mark (.554), both held by Susan Wellman..
ISU finishes the season with a road trip to Bradley on Thursday and Northern Iowa the next Saturday.
