Six years ago, the roles were the same for Illinois State and Indiana State. The Redbirds had finished the regular season Missouri Valley Conference schedule 9-9 and were the No. 5 seed in the State Farm-Missouri Valley Conference Tournament. Indiana State had been 10-8 in league play and was the No. 4 seed. The tournament was at Hammons Student Center. But that's where Illinois State wants the similarity to end becuase the Sycamores prevailed and advanced to the semi-finals.
As the two ISUs square off at 8:30 p.m. Thursday, Illinois State, 15-12, is playing the last team it beat. The 'Birds took an 80-76 overtime decision Feb. 22 behind Jaci McCormack's career-high 27 points in Terre Haute. That was win No. 4 in a row for the 'Birds, who took over sole possession of third place. Indiana State, 16-11, is 2-2 since that date; the Redbirds are 0-4, most recently losing 72-63 at Northern Iowa.
Redbird coach Robin Pingeton concedes that her team hasn't played consistently well since the Indiana State victory, but she is confident in her group, led by Katie Donovan's 20 points per game and Taren O'Brien's outstanding all-around play during the conference season.
"We've hit a couple of speed bumps," said Pingeton, "but the drive back from Northern Iowa was a very positive time for our team. I think the girls are excited to get out on the court again."
The Sycamores lost last year's championship game to SMS--the first time Indiana State had reached the tournament title game. Illinois State, which failed to qualify for the eight-team field from 1999-2002, is looking for its first tourney victory since 1996 when the Redbirds fell to SMS 59-56 in the championship game in Des Moines.
SMS is fighting some historical disadvantages. The home team has won only once in 10 years (Jackie Stiles' SMS team in 2001) of single-site competition. Only one team has repeated as champions (Drake in 1998) during that same decade. A year ago, the Bears were the No. 4 seed.
But coaches--including Pingeton--are fond of saying that history nver won a game and every team starts the conference tournament 0-0.
"In post-season, the next 40 minutes are always the most important of the year," said Pingeton. "You can't look ahead. You can't think about match-ups down the road in the bracket. You have to win the next 40 minutes."
