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Feb. 7, 2014
NORMAL, Ill.- Stekara Hall scored a career-high 26 points and Illinois State (6-14, 5-5 Missouri Valley Conference) erased an eight point second half deficit to topple Indiana State (12-9, 7-3 Missouri Valley Conference) 53-50 Friday night at Redbird Arena. The Redbirds have now won two of its last three games to return to .500 in MVC play.
Hall led all scorers with 26 points, while Chloe Nelson added 10 for Illinois State. The Redbirds shot 40% (10-of-25) from the floor in the second half and outscored Indiana State 33-27 over the game’s final 20 minutes to secure the come-from-behind win. Illinois State forced 25 turnovers in the win.
Stephanie Wittman was the only Sycamore to tally double-figure scoring, finishing with 10 points on 4-of-6 shooting. The Sycamores shot 43% (20-for-47) from the floor and led 23-20 at the half.
Illinois State fell behind 43-34 late in the second half before Octavia Crump banked a layup to snap a 5:16 stretch without a field goal. Hall added a layup and Lindsay Smith made a pair of free throws to bring Illinois State within two points, 43-41, with 6:16 to play. After a defensive stop, Nelson drew a foul and made one free throw to make it a 43-42 game with 5:42 on the clock.
Wittman missed a jumper on Indiana State’s next possession, leading to a Hall banked jumper, giving Illinois State its first lead, 44-43, since the opening half. Marina Laramie’s jumper snapped the 9-0 Illinois State run, and sparked a 6-0 Sycamores advantage that put Indiana State on top, 49-44, with 3:48 to play.
Crump stopped the Indiana State streak with a spinning layup and Katy Winge added a defensive rebound to give Illinois State possession of the ball. On the other end of the court, Hall hit a layup and drew a foul. She completed the three-point play to set a career-high for points scored and tie the game, 49-49, with 2:30 left in regulation.
Hall, who had been fouled attempting to secure a defensive rebound, used the double-bonus to make both free throws, giving Illinois State a 51-49 advantage with 90 seconds to play. After a timeout, Laramie was fouled and went to the free throw line to shoot two. After rimming out the first attempt, the second was good, making it a 51-50 Illinois State advantage with a minute left in regulation. Winge’s ensuing jumper fell short, but Hall forced a steal to retain possession for Illinois State. At the foul line, Nelson made one-of-two attempts, making it 52-50 Illinois State with 24.6 seconds on the clock. Bilqis Abdul-Qaadir missed a jumper from the top of the key and the loose-ball resulted in a jump ball, with the possession arrow pointed to Illinois State. The Redbirds successfully inbounded the ball to Smith, but the guard was tied up to a jump ball call, returning possession to Indiana State with 6 seconds to play.
The inbounds pass went to Wittman, who was whistled for a traveling violation. Hall added one free throw to secure the win and Indiana State’s full-court shot attempt fell short as time expired.
Illinois State forced turnovers on each of Indiana State’s first five possessions to open the game and jumped ahead to a 2-0 advantage on a Hall layup. The Sycamores made their first basket at the 17:35 mark of the opening half, getting on the board on a three three-point make by Jasmine Grier. It opened a 7-0 Sycamores run that coincided with a nearly-four minute Illinois State scoring drought.
Nelson snapped the Illinois State skid by making a pair of free-throws out of the under-16 timeout, but the Redbirds continued to struggle from the floor. After opening the game with 1-for-7 shooting, Illinois State made its second field goal with 12:05 to play in the first half, scoring on a three-point bank shot from Smith. It sparked a 6-0 Illinois State run that saw ISU take an 11-9 advantage midway through the opening half.
Tied 14-14 at the 6:20 mark of the half, Nelson made a fade-away jumper to put Illinois State back in front. The Sycamores answered with a 9-4 run to close the first half and carried a 23-20 advantage into halftime. The opening half featured five lead changes and four ties. The 23 points tallied by Indiana State marked the second-lowest figure Illinois State has allowed in an opening half this year.
The Redbirds opened the second half by forcing a turnover and Hall scored three-straight points to tie the game at 23, but Indiana State secured four-straight points to reclaim a 27-23 advantage at the 17:51 mark. Katy Winge sparked a 6-0 Illinois State sprint that gave Illinois State a 29-27 lead two minutes later.
Bilqis Abdul-Qaadir made her second three-point basket of the half to put Indiana State back in front. It opened a 13-4 Indiana State run that saw the Sycamores extend its lead to 40-33 with 11:09 to go, before Illinois State mounted its game-winning comeback.
Illinois State continues its three-game home stand Friday, Feb. 14, when the Redbirds welcome Evansville to Redbird Arena. Tip-off is slated for 7:05 p.m.
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