Cirone Receives Jill Hutchison Endowed Scholarship

July 2, 2008

NORMAL, Ill. - Illinois State junior guard Kristi Cirone has been named the recipient of the Jill Hutchison Endowed Scholarship for the 2008-09 academic year. The award is named after Hutchison, the former Redbird coach and pioneer in women's athletics.

ISU head coach Robin Pingeton selected Cirone, a four-year Redbird captain, for the endowment because she embodies all of the characteristics the Hutchison made synonymous with Illinois State basketball.

"When I think about the words that describe coach Jill Hutchison and what she has done for this program, this university and this community, I think of words such as leader, driven, committed and passionate," said Pingeton. "Those are all words that I could use to describe Kristi Cirone. Kristi has worked very hard on and off the court to help us turn the corner with this program. She has been a great leader for us and has played an instrumental role in our success."

Cirone had her most remarkable season in 2007-08, adding to her already lengthy list of honors. She was named the Jackie Stiles Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Year for the second-consecutive season, becoming just the fourth player in the history of the conference to achieve that feat, after leading the Valley in assists (5.6 apg) and assist-to-turnover ratio (3.04), and finishing second in scoring (16.3 ppg) and steals (2.6 spg). She was also a First-Team All-Valley, First-Team All-MVC Scholar-Athlete and All-Valley Defensive Team selection.

Cirone also received honorable mention all-American recognition from the Associated Press and the Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA), becoming just the third Redbird to achieve the feat. She surpassed the 1,000-point plateau at the beginning of the season, cracked the top-five in career scoring and became Illinois State's all-time leader in free throws during the State Farm MVC Tournament.

"Jill has put in a great deal of work for women's basketball and Illinois State University," Cirone said. "With all she has done, it is a great honor to receive a scholarship that is dedicated in her honor."

The Chicago native ended the season with a game-high 22 points, five rebounds and four assists in ISU's 69-61 loss to Oklahoma in the NCAA Tournament. In her first-ever NCAA Tournament appearance, Cirone poured in the third-most points in a single-game in school history. She finished the year ranked fifth in ISU single-season history in points (552), third in three-point field goals (64), tied for seventh in free throws (104), seventh in assists (172) and eighth in steals (80).

During the 2008 State Farm MVC Tournament, Cirone earned MVP honors after averaging 18.7 ppg to lead the Redbirds to the championship. She tied her season-high with 27 points against Southern Illinois in the quarterfinals and scored 20 points in the championship game against Drake.

Hutchison spent 28 years as the head coach at Illinois State and earned 428 wins in her career, the most in Redbird basketball history. She guided ISU to three NCAA Tournaments, six WNIT appearances and was a three-time conference coach of the year. Last year, she was inducted into the Missouri Valley Conference Hall of Fame and a banner was hung from Redbird Arena in her honor.

Hutchison stays involved with Redbird basketball as a color analyst for WJBC and Missouri Valley Conference television and has watched Cirone play throughout her entire career. She is thrilled to have the scholarship awarded to Cirone this season.

"I am very proud to have Kristi receive this endowed scholarship," said Hutchison. "She is among the top-three players to have donned the Redbird red and white, along with Cathy Boswell and Charlotte Lewis. Those two were both all-Americans and Olympians and Kristi easily belongs in that class. She brings credit to the program as a student, an athlete and a person of great character. I look forward to another exciting year of Redbird basketball led by Kristi Cirone."