Dec. 15, 2008
Box Score | Blog
DEKALB, Ill. -
Illinois State (6-3) went up by double-digits just five minutes into its meeting with Northern Illinois Monday night and stayed there for the rest of the game, beating the Huskies (3-6), 89-67, to extend its winning streak to four games.
Kristi Cirone led all scorers with 24 points on 9-0f-14 shooting and added four assists. Maggie Krick scored in double-figures for the sixth time in the last seven games with 18 points. Shala Jackson and Emily Hanley both had a team-high six rebounds and combined for 23 points.
During the current winning streak, the Redbirds have had one dominant half that has proven to be the deciding factor and their first-half performance against Northern Illinois was just that. ISU nearly doubled up NIU at halftime, 50-26, and led by double-digits for the final 15 minutes of the period. The Redbirds shot 55 percent from the field and forced 10 turnovers, which they turned into 20 points. Cirone and Jackson outscored the Huskies by themselves, combining for 29 points on 10-of-14 shooting from the field.
"That was a great win for our program when you take into consideration that the home team has won the last seven games and we lost by 28 last time we were here," said head coach Robin Pingeton. "I was really pleased to see that we maintained our focus coming off a huge road win at Green Bay. Northern Illinois has a lot of athleticism."
Northern Illinois did manage to snap ISU's streak of holding opponents under 50 points at three games, which is tied for the fifth-longest in school history. All of the other top-five streaks came before 1975. Kylie York had a team-high 16 points and Ebony Ellis had 13 rebounds, the most a Redbird opponent has had this season.
The Redbirds wasted no time jumping ahead of the Huskies, making four-straight jumpers to go up by eight in the opening minutes. A pair of three-pointers by Cirone and Jackson and three more jumpers put the Redbirds ahead, 22-3, just seven minutes into the game. All five Redbird starters scored during the run. ISU forced seven NIU turnovers and scored off each one.
The Huskies started to put some offense together midway through the half and reached double-figures at the 8:29 mark. Cirone and Jackson each scored five points during a 13-0 run that gave the Redbirds their largest lead of the half, 41-12. A pair of free throws at the end of the half by Cirone gave ISU 50 points in a half for just the second time this season.
Northern Illinois apparently found its offense at halftime, scoring 16 points in the first five minutes of the second half to cut the deficit down to 15 points, 57-42. The Redbirds quickly dashed any hopes of an NIU comeback with a 15-2 run, highlighted by three-pointers by Jackson and Krick and a three-point play from Cirone.
Cirone fed Kenyatta Shelton down low for an uncontested layup that gave ISU a 30-point advantage, 78-48, with less than eight minutes left. After cutting the ISU lead to 15 points, Northern Illinois went nearly 10 minutes with just three field goals.
The Redbirds open play at the Orange County Clash, hosted by UC-Irvine, against Western Michigan Sunday at 2 p.m. CST.
