ISU Opens the 2014-15 Season at Northern Illinois on ESPN3 at 6 p.m.

NORMAL, Ill. – After an exciting exhibition game, the Illinois State women's basketball team opens the 2014-15 regular season against in-state rival Northern Illinois Friday at 6 p.m., in DeKalb, Ill. The game can be seen on ESPN3.

The Redbirds faced off against Maryville in their only exhibition game, as ISU won the contest, 77-68, in double overtime. Stekara Hall and Colleene Smith led the Redbirds, as both collected double-doubles in the win.

Illinois State and Northern Illinois will meet for the 22nd time in program history, Friday night, at 6 p.m., in the Convocation Center. ISU holds a convincing 15-6 lead over NIU in the all-time series. The Redbirds won five-straight games until last season, when the Huskies won, 57-52, at Redbird Arena. It was NIU's first win at Redbird Arena in 10 meetings. Northern Illinois holds a slight advantage of games played in DeKalb, Ill., leading the series 4-3. The Redbirds won the last two games played on NIU's campus. The last time ISU lost in DeKalb was Nov. 11, 2006, when the Huskies won, 97-69.

ABOUT NORTHERN ILLINOIS
• Northern Illinois is located in DeKalb, Ill., and has an enrollment of 22,990.
• The Huskies are members of the Mid-American Conference (MAC).
• The Huskies finished 11-19 last season and finished sixth in the west division of the MAC.
• NIU returns five starters from last season's team that started 15 or more games.

READY TO GET STARTED
As far as exhibitions go, they don't get much more exciting than the Illinois State women's basketball team's 77-68 double-overtime win against Maryville (Nov. 5). The Redbirds were led by Stekara Hall, who had a double-double, in its only exhibition game of the season. Hall finished with a game-high 22 points and added 14 rebounds. Eight of her points came in the two overtime periods. Colleene Smith also had a double-double, scoring 20 and hauling in 11 rebounds. Katy Winge and Taylor Stewart also scored in double figures with 14 and 11 points, respectively. Octavia Crump recorded a game-high 15 boards as the Redbirds won the rebounding battle, 57-55. ISU forced the Saints into 24 turnovers for the game, which led to 20 Redbird points. Maryville struggled from beyond the arc, while ISU recovered after a lopsided first half of points in the paint to win the category, 34-30, down the stretch.

IN A REDBIRD UNIFORM
Transfers Kelli Tolar and Colleene Smith saw the court for the first time in a Redbird uniform in the exhibition win over Maryville. Smith recorded a double-double, scoring 20 points with 11 rebounds. She was ISU's second-leading scorer in the game. Smith also had two steals in 37 minutes. Tolar added a steal and an assist in 27 minutes.

GETTING OFF ON THE RIGHT FOOT
Illinois State is 21-22 all-time in season-opening games. Over the last 11 seasons, Illinois State is 7-4 in season-openers, winning four-straight. The Redbirds open the 2014-15 season with a road game at in-state rival Northern Illinois, and ISU looks to start another win streak. The women's basketball team has won four-straight season-opening games twice in program history. The first time was 1981-85 and then again from 2009-12.

PREPARING FOR CONFERENCE PLAY
The Illinois State women's basketball team has never shied away from a tough non-conference schedule, and the 2014-15 season is no different. ISU will play 11 games during the non-conference schedule, including six home contests and one exhibition game. The Redbirds will take on four opponents that won their respective conferences in 2013-14, including Bowling Green, Colorado State, DePaul and Tennessee-Martin. Seven of the non-conference foes made postseason appearances, as Arizona State, DePaul and Tennessee-Martin appeared in the NCAA Tournament, while Bowling Green, Butler and Colorado State participated in the Women's National Invitation Tournament (WNIT), with Northern Kentucky in the Women's Basketball Invitational (WBI).

REDBIRDS PICKED EIGHTH IN MVC
The Illinois State women's basketball team was projected to finish eighth in the Missouri Valley Conference Preseason Poll for the 2014-15 season, as voted on by the league's head coaches, sports information directors and media. Illinois State received 125 votes in the poll with its eighth-place selection, a change of pace since ISU has been picked in the top-five in 19 of the 32 preseason polls in conference history. It is the second time in school history the Redbirds have been picked to finish eighth, with the other time coming last season. The eighth-place selections have been ISU's lowest preseason projection since the 2003-04 season, when Illinois State was selected to finish ninth. The 2003-04 squad went on to end the conference season in fifth place. Wichita State is the preseason favorite to win the conference with 395 points and 26 first-place votes, and is followed by Northern Iowa (338). The Panthers garnered two first-place votes, while Drake (315), Evansville (252) and Indiana State (234) rounded out the top-five teams. Drake was the only other team to receive first-place votes, collecting two. Missouri State is projected to finish sixth (190), with ­Loyola (166) following behind in seventh place. The Redbirds are picked to finish ahead of Southern Illinois (116) and Bradley (60), who occupy the final two spots in the preseason poll. ISU was selected to finish eighth during the 2013-14 season and ended the regular season tied for sixth place.

MORE MINUTES
Prior to the 2013-14 season, ISU lost several of its key players and most of its minutes played. Now, heading into the 2014-15 season, the Redbirds are singing a different tune, as ISU returns 76 percent of its minutes.

GoRedbirds.com:  Your online source for Illinois State Athletics, tickets, Weisbecker Scholarship Fund gifts, multimedia, Redbird merchandise, photos and more.­­­­­