Illinois State coach Robin Pingeton isnt expecting to face the same Evansville team which her Redbirds thrashed 91-64 Jan. 16 at Redbird Arena when the two teams meet Thursday in Evansvilles Roberts Stadium.
We put our subs in early (in the first meeting), said Pingeton, whose team grabbed a 47-22 first-half lead in the first game with UE which never got much smaller in the second half. Theyve switched up their lineup since then and had some success. Theres no doubt theyll be ready for us this time around.
Since that game, both teams are 3-3. Evansville, 9-10 overall, 4-6 in the Missouri Valley Converence, has wins over Bradley, Southern Illinois and Wichita State. Illinois State, 12-8, 6-5, has beaten Southern Illinois, Wichita State and Drake. The Aces are led by Jamie Gray, who is No. 3 in the conference in scoring and rebounding.
Pingeton reflected on the 57-54 Sunday win over Drake with a sense of relief.
That was a huge game for us, said Pingeton, who admitted her team didnt play well for much of the second half, but still pulled out a victory at the end. We re-established some goals before the start of the second round of conference play and that was one of them--to beat a team ahead of us in the standings.
But there are more goals to reach.
We want to prove that we can be a good second-half conference team, said Pingeton. We have to remain focused.
Redbird starters have logged heavy minutes of late; senior Zora Skrabalova had never played more than 31 minutes until she logged 39 in ISUs overtime win at Wichita State Jan. 29. Last weekend, Skrabalova played 74 of a possible 80 minutes, including all 40 against Creighton. Starters played 90 percent of the minutes in the Drake and Creighton games, even though the biggest basket of the Drake victory was a 25-foot three-pointer by reserve guard Beth Huston with 34 seconds left. That gave ISU the lead for good.
We have a rule on our team that, if you ask to come out for a rest, you can put yourself back in, said Pingeton. The problem is, nobody ever asks out. But we still need to fine more minutes from our subs. Its not that I dont have confidence in them. The problem is that the kind of defense we want to play impacts the substitutions. But we have to go our our bench more and get game minutes to keep our players fresh.
The Redbird starters have been productive in their long stretches including junior guard Jaci McCormack, who is the only player in the Valley who is among the conference games only leaders in scoring, rebounding, assists, steals and blocked shots. McCormack has teamed with Taren OBrien, No. 2 in the Valley in assists, to give ISU one of the leagues best back-court combinations. They combine for 21.5 points, 8.0 rebounds, 7.6 assists and 5.0 steals per game. OBrien, a career 36 percent shooter prior to this season, is hitting 51 percent in league games.
The Evansville game is the first of three in a row on the road for Illinois State. The road games continue with a 4:05 p.m. Saturday tipoff at Southern Illinois and a Feb. 22 game at Indiana State.
