Nov. 28, 2007
NORMAL, Ill. -
Illinois State (4-1) looks to rebound from its first loss of the season when it takes on Loyola-Chicago (1-4) at Redbird Arena on Thursday, Nov. 29, at 7:05 p.m. The Redbirds, who received votes in the Associated Press Top-25 poll for the second-consecutive week this week, will look for a win to begin a stretch of three games in six days that they have ahead of them.
Thursday night's game is Pack the Arena Night at Redbird Arena, with free admission to all fans to watch the Redbirds take on the Ramblers.
Illinois State had its undefeated start to the season snapped against nationally-ranked DePaul on Sunday, 80-75. Despite erasing a 13-point deficit late in the second half, the Redbirds were unable complete the comeback and surpass the Blue Demons. Junior guard Kristi Cirone scored a season-high 25 points and made a pair of three-pointers in the final seconds. Cirone became the 23rd player in school history to eclipse 1,000 career points with her nine first half points.
The Redbirds played tough against DePaul, a very quality opponent, and head coach Robin Pingeton wants her team to use their performance as a positive the rest of the season.
"The challenge against Loyola will be to come back after the loss to DePaul with the same intensity that we have all season," Pingeton said. "We have a veteran team and I don't think that will be that big of a problem, but we will have to see. We may not have beaten DePaul, but this is another game against an in-state opponent and we want to play well against all Illinois teams."
Illinois State has won the four all-time meetings with Loyola, including wins in each of the last three seasons. After a commanding 108-42 victory in the first meeting in 1978, the series did not continue until 2004. ISU has won all four games by an average scoring margin of 26.8 points.
After defeating Robert Morris to open the season, 67-52, Loyola has lost its last four games by an average of 20.2 points per game. The last two losses came to in-state foes Chicago State and Northwestern. The Ramblers are led by a pair of sophomores in forward Elyse VanBogaert and Maggie McCloskey. VanBogaert leads the team with 13.6 points per game, while McCloskey is right behind her with a 13.2 scoring average. Freshman forward Brittany Boeke has made quite an impact in her first season, averaging 7.0 points and a team-best 7.0 rebounds per game.
There is a rather unique connection that links Illinois State and Loyola. Redbird junior forward Brea Banks and Loyola sophomore guard Keisha Collins were teammates at Marian Catholic High School, where they were coached by Shannon Reidy, now the head coach at Loyola. While at Marion Catholic together, the trio led the Spartans to an 84-15 record and two IHSA state finals. After Banks and Collins graduated in 2005, Reidy left Marian Catholic for Loyola. Collins transferred to Loyola after playing her freshman season at Southern Indiana and sitting out last year.
