Nov. 12, 2010
Box Score
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -
The Stephanie Glance era at Illinois State started off with a bang, as the Redbirds topped Illinois, 69-62, at Assembly Hall Friday night. Four Redbirds scored in double-figures to give ISU its first win at Illinois since 1982.
Senior Hannah Spanich recorded the first double-double of her career with 11 points and a career-high 12 rebounds. Senior Shala Jackson led ISU with 16 points, connecting on a career-high 8-of-12 free throws. Senior Emily Hanley added 14 points and eight rebounds, while senior Kenyatta Shelton had 10 points and five rebounds.
Illinois State scored 34 points in the paint and 10 on the fastbreak. The Redbirds shot 46.2 percent from the field and forced 17 Illinois turnovers.
The Redbirds beat Illinois in the regular season for the first time since 1996 and won consecutive games over the Illini for the first time since beating them in 1982 and 1984.
"I am really proud of the performance and effort the players gave tonight. We have players who are used to being role players stepping into bigger roles this season and they showed their experience tonight," said ISU head coach Stephanie Glance. "We knew we had to play a tough, physical game tonight and we battled hard. Our defense was active and we really limited Illinois' fastbreak opportunities."
Amber Moore connected on three three-pointers for the Illini, but the Redbirds answered with a 12-2 run to pull ahead, 21-11, with 8:42 remaining in the half. The Redbirds went inside for its offense, with six points each from Hanley and Shelton. ISU's offense really frustrated Illinois, who went 6:37 without a field goal and committed seven turnovers, most of which were on passes within four feet of the basket.
Moore continued to provide the Illini offense, making two more three-pointers from deep, but turnovers continued to plague Illinois and Illinois State led, 28-20, with 34:46 remaining. Illinois got back into the game with a 10-2 run over the final three minutes, but a Broadway jumper as time wound down gave the Redbirds a 32-29 advantage at the half.
Hanley led the Redbirds with nine points in the first half, followed closely by Jackson's eight and Spanich's seven. Moore had 15 of the Illini's 29 points, all on three-pointers. Illinois turned the ball over 14 times in the half, but made the best of ISU's 10 turnovers with 12 points. ISU only scored six points off Illinois turnovers.
The Redbirds continued to work the ball inside with six layups in the first eight minutes of the second half, and ran the floor well, with three fastbreak scores. An 8-2 Redbird spurt stretched the lead to double-digits again, 52-41, midway through the half. Sophomore Alexis Jenkins scored six points in the first eight minutes, including a pair of fastbreak scores.
After Illinois pulled within seven, the Redbirds got two more fastbreak scores, one from Spanich and one from Jackson, to regain the double-digit lead, 57-46, at the 7:16 mark. After a Jackson layup, Illinois State went over five minutes without a field goal, but made 6-of-8 free throws to maintain a nine-point edge, 62-53. Jackson snapped the drought with a layup with under two minutes left and the `Birds held on from there.
Illinois State hosts Eastern Illinois in its first home game of the season Thursday at 7:05 p.m.
