2009-10 Season Begins at Hawkeye Challenge For Redbirds

Nov. 13, 2009

PLAYERS TO WATCH
Maggie Krick - G Krick was named Preseason All-Valley for the second-consecutive season, the only repeat selection on the 2009-10 squad. She is ISU's leading returner in scoring (12.6), three-pointers (53) and assists (97) and her scoring and three-point totals have increased each season as a Redbird. She nearly had a triple-double in the exhibition opener against Kentucky Wesleyan with 23 points, nine assists and eight rebounds

DOREENA CAMPBELL - G Campbell led UCLA in scoring (12.9), three-point field goal percentage (.400), assists (112) and steals (41) as a sophomore, earning second-team All-Pac-10. She was 11th in the Pac-10 in scoring and sixth in assists. She was named to the Pac-10 All-Freshman team and honorable mention all-conference in her first year at UCLA. She has played in 60 of the 61 games in her career, missing one game as a freshman with an ankle sprain.

REDBIRDS-BRUINS SERIES
ISU won its only meeting against UCLA, 65-62, Jan. 4, 1982. The Redbirds are 8-12 all-time against teams from the Pac-10, having played every school except Washington and Washington State.

REDBIRDS-HAWKEYES SERIES
Iowa leads the all-time series with Illinois State, 4-1. The Redbirds won the first meeting in 1976, but the Hawkeyes have won four-straight since then. The two schools last met in 1996. Illinois State is 67-73 all-time against Big Ten teams.

REDBIRDS-BRONCOS SERIES
Illinois State and Santa Clara have never faced one another in women's basketball. The Redbirds are 5-0 all-time against teams from the West Coast Conference (Portland, San Francisco).

HAWKEYE CHALLENGE
The Hawkeye Challenge is in its 24th year. Iowa has won 18 of the previous 23 Hawkeye Challenges and boasts a 40-6 record in the tournament. Iowa and Santa Clara face off in the other first round game, with the winners and losers playing Sunday. Illinois State is making its first appearance in the tournament, but Valley teams are 3-7 all-time: Bradley (1985-4th), Southern Illinois (1987-3rd), Eastern Illinois (1988-3rd), Bradley (1999-3rd), Southern Illinois (2004-4th).

STARTING ON THE RIGHT FOOT
Illinois State is 17-21 in season-openers since 1971. The Redbirds are 3-1 in season-opening games on neutral courts, the last coming with a 61-54 win over Michigan State in the Colorado Coors Classic in 1988, and have started the season with a tournament six times, posting a 7-10 record in those tournaments. The Redbirds have started the season against a Pac-10 team once, losing at Arizona State, 71-68, in 1994. Head coach Robin Pingeton is 3-3 in season-openers in her career at ISU, winning every other year since her debut in 2003.

REDBIRD OFFENSE TAKES FLIGHT IN EXHIBITIONS
Illinois State had an offensive explosion in its two exhibition games, averaging 87 points and scoring 100 against Kentucky Wesleyan. The Redbirds shot 51 percent (69-135) from the field and 41 percent (12-29) from three-point range. Of the 174 points the Redbirds scored, 86 were in the paint and they scored 51 points off of 41 turnovers forced. ISU was led by its trio of seniors, who all averaged double-figures in scoring - Maggie Krick (17.5), Ashleen Bracey (16.0), Nicolle Lewis (13.0). Bracey and Lewis dominated on the glass, averaging 8.5 and 8.0 rebounds per game, respectively. Junior Emily Hanley averaged 9.5 points and 8.0 rebounds per game off the bench.

REDBIRDS PICKED SECOND IN MVC PRESEASON POLL
Illinois State was projected to finish in second place in the annual Missouri Valley Conference Preseason Poll, conducted by the leagues coaches, sports information directors and media. Illinois State received 340 votes, falling just behind Creighton (393). The Bluejays (34) and Redbirds (6) were the only teams to receive first-place votes. ISU has been picked in the top-three in the preseason poll in each of the last three seasons. In three of the four previous years the Redbirds were picked second in the preseason poll, they wound up winning the MVC regular-season title.

KRICK NAMED PRESEASON ALL-VALLEY
Senior guard Maggie Krick was named to the Preseason All-Valley team for the second-consecutive year. Krick is ISU's leading returner in scoring, three-point field goals, assists, steals and minutes. She was a Preseason All-Valley pick before last season and was named to the All-Valley Second Team after averaging 12.6 points per game. She was joined on the preseason all-conference team by Megan Neuvirth (Creighton), Jordann Plummer (Drake), Kelsey Luna (Indiana State) and Casey Garrison (Missouri State). Neuvirth was named the Valley Preseason Player of the Year; the first year the award has been given on the women's side. All five players on the preseason team were All-Valley selections last year.

NON-CONFERENCE SLATE
Illinois State will be well-prepared for the rigors of the Missouri Valley Conference with a challenging non-conference schedule in 2009-10. The Redbirds will play 11 games during the non-conference slate, facing four teams that played in the NCAA Tournament last season (Ball State, DePaul, Iowa, South Dakota State). Those four teams combined for a 102-33 record last season, and Ball State and South Dakota State both won first round games in the tournament.

ISU SIGNS THREE FRESHMEN TO NLI'S
National Signing Day came Wednesday, Nov. 11, and Illinois State had three high school seniors sign National Letters of Intent to play for the Redbirds beginning in 2010-11. Marley Hall (West Hancock/Warsaw, Ill.), a 6-foot-2 forward, Chloe Nelson (Incarnate Word/St. Louis, Mo.), a 5-foot-7 guard, and Alison Seberger (Montini Catholic/Lombard, Ill.), a 6-foot-2 guard, will be freshmen for the Redbirds next season.

THREE-PEAT
Illinois State's WNIT berth last season marked the third-consecutive year the Redbirds have advanced to postseason play. It was the third time ISU was in the postseason at least three-straight seasons. ISU made three postseason trips from 1988-90 and six-consecutive from 1980-85.

ANOTHER THREE-PEAT
Illinois State completed another rare three-peat last season. The Redbirds won 20 games for the third-straight season for the third time in program history. The Redbirds won 20 games from 1982-85 and 1987-90. ISU has also completed back-to-back 25-win seasons for the first time in program history.

TONIGHT ON 20/20
Illinois State's 27 wins were the second-most in program history, one win shy of the school record 28 set in 1980-81. The Redbirds' win over Wichita State Feb. 14 secured the 12th 20-win season in program history and marked the third-straight 20-win season, a feat achieved just one other time (1982-85). The Redbirds reached the 20-win plateau in the second-fewest games ever (24), falling just short of the 23 games it took the team last season, and set a school record for regular-season wins (24).

TWO TIMES 1,000
Junior Maggie Krick (1,053) and redshirt junior Nicolle Lewis (1,035) both joined the ISU 1,000-Point Club at the end of the 2008-09 season, bringing the membership up to 24. There have been five years in Illinois State history when two players have scored their 1,000th point in the same season. Krick and Lewis are the first duo to start a season with 1,000 points since 1990-91, when Cindy Kaufmann and LuAnn Robinson were both seniors.

SHELTON SET TO REDSHIRT
Kenyatta Shelton suffered a torn right anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) June 9 and will redshirt the 2009-10 season. She injured her knee during a pick-up game in Redbird Arena and had surgery July 29. Shelton tore her left ACL in June 2007 and missed the first four games of the 2007-08 season.

Nicolle Lewis: QUEEN OF THE BLOCK
Redshirt junior Nicolle Lewis blocked four shots against Northern Iowa March 1 to move past Leslie Ferrell (177) for ISU all-time lead and ended the season with 189 in her career. After blocking 11 shots in eight games before a knee injury cut short her freshman season, Lewis has recorded at least 40 blocks the last three seasons, including a career-best and school-record 78 in 2008-09. Lewis' 2.2 blocks per game ranked 28th in the nation. Lewis recorded multiple blocks in 21 games, including a season-high six against Indiana State Feb. 7 and five blocks three times. She was the main influence in ISU's school-record 152 blocks this year.

THREE-COLA!!
Since Robin Pingeton became head coach in 2003-04, the Redbirds have been letting fly from three-point range at a record rate. Pingeton's six seasons make up the top-six records in three-point field goals in school history. ISU's 184 three-pointers last season were the fifth-most in school history and the Redbirds have eclipsed 200 triples in the years during the Pingeton era.

A HISTORIC SEASON FOR PINGETON
Aside from all of the team success, ISU head coach Robin Pingeton achieved numerous personal milestones in 2008-09. ISU's 73-59 win over La Tech in the WNIT was the 114th of her career at ISU, moving her past Melinda Fischer for second all-time. Pingeton became the third ISU women's basketball coach and 13th Valley coach to surpass 100 wins. Pingeton is the second head coach in ISU history to coach six years and has more wins (116) than Jill Hutchison did in her first six seasons.

REDBIRDS WIN 2009 MVC REGULAR-SEASON TITLE
Illinois State won the 2009 Missouri Valley Conference regular-season title with a 15-3 conference record. It was the sixth regular-season conference title (1984-95, 1987-88, 1988-89, 1989-90, 2007-08) and the third outright conference crown (1984-85, 1988-89) in school history. ISU also became the second school to win the regular-season title after being a unanimous top-choice in the preseason poll, joining the 1986-87 Southern Illinois squad. The Salukis were also the only unanimous preseason favorite to win the conference tournament championship.

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