Illinois State-Eastern Illinois Game Notes in PDF Format
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Nov. 27, 2006
NORMAL, Ill. - Fresh off a convincing 81-53 win over visiting Chicago State on Sunday, Illinois State's women's basketball team will renew a historic rivalry with Eastern Illinois Tuesday at Redbird Arena beginning at 7:05 p.m. The two schools have met 34 total times in school history, but the all-time series has been on hold since the 1992 season.
Illinois State improved to 3-2 on the season with Sunday's win over the Cougars. Spearheading a new starting lineup, junior guard Tiffany Hudson had her best all-around career performance, pouring in a career-high 18 points to go along with a career-best nine assists and five steals. Illinois State also recorded its best defensive effort of the young season, holding the Cougars to just a 39 percent shooting performance while forcing 21 turnovers.
Illinois State head coach Robin Pingeton was pleased with her team's improved defensive mentality against Chicago State.
"I was pleased with our defensive effort (against Chicago State) yesterday, but we still have a lot of work to do in that area," said Pingeton. "A lot of that improvement will come from continuing to instill that defensive mentality in our players. We want to work harder than other teams on the defensive end, and be a great rebounding team. That's what we want our signature to be this season."
Dating back to the 1973 season, Illinois State owns a 26-8 all-time record against Eastern Illinois (2-2). While the Redbirds and Panthers haven't met since 1992, ISU has claimed seven of the last 10 contests between the two schools.
The Panthers' top three scorers all average double figures, including Bloomington, Ill. native Rachel Galligan, who ranks second on the team in scoring with 17.0 points-per-game. EIU is averaging 94.0 points-per-game, and has given up an average of 83.5 points to their opposition, which includes games against Missouri Valley Conference foes Bradley and Indiana State.
"Eastern Illinois plays very similar to us," Pingeton said. "They really like to push the ball in transition, and they are averaging nearly 94 points-per-game through their first four. But they also give up a lot of points. They like to gamble with a lot of full-court pressure defense. If you can convert and show some poise against that kind of defensive look, it is going to lead to a lot of easy baskets.
"They have some local kids that are getting an opportunity to come back home and play at Redbird Arena. So I anticipate a challenging match-up for us (Tuesday night)."
Illinois State will return to the road this weekend, where they will face host Wisconsin-Green Bay Saturday (Dec. 2) at 2:05 p.m. in a non-conference contest.
