ISU Ready for Final Two Games of the Regular Season at UNI, Drake

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March 5, 2014

NORMAL, Ill. - The Redbirds travel to Drake for their regular season finale Saturday at 2:05 p.m. Illinois State and Drake both enter the contest with a Missouri Valley Conference record of 8-9. The two teams are two of three in a tie for fifth place.

Octavia Crump’s fourth double-double effort of the season capped off the strong Illinois State second half shooting effort, which led to the 69-61 victory over Loyola. The Redbirds shot 40 percent from the field and 44 percent behind the arc. A total of 37 rebounds were pulled down by the team, including 10 boards claimed by Crump, who would finish with 18 points. Chloe Nelson followed Crump’s contributions with 15 points and one steal, along with Katy Winge, who finished with 11 points and shot 4-for-6 from the field and 3-for-6 behind the arc.

Illinois State leads the all-time series with Northern Iowa in a convincing 40-26 series record. ISU holds a slight advantage in the all-time series with a 35-33 record against Drake.

ILLINOIS STATE-NORTHERN IOWA SERIES
Illinois State leads the all-time series with Northern Iowa, 40-26. The series began in 1976 and is the fourth-longest in program history. ISU started the series with a 28-3 record, which included a 22-game winning streak. Since then, UNI holds a 24-18 advantage in the series. ISU holds a slight 16-14 record in games played in Cedar Falls, Iowa.

FLASHBACK: JAN. 5 ILLINOIS STATE 63, NORTHERN IOWA 83
A 20-0 first half run by Northern Iowa proved too much for Illinois State overcome, as the Redbirds fell to Northern Iowa, 83-63, at Redbird Arena. Chloe Nelson led all players with 21 points on 8-of-14 shooting. Octavia Crump added 13 points and eight rebounds, while Kalyn Gebhardt recorded career-bests in points and minutes, with 10 and 12, respectively. All five UNI starters scored in double figures, led by Stephanie Davison’s 20, as the Panthers shot a season-high 54.2-percent (26-of-48) from the floor, including 52.4-percent (11-of-21) from beyond the three-point arc.

ILLINOIS STATE-DRAKE SERIES
Illinois State holds a slight advantage in the all-time series with a 35-33 record against Drake. The series began in 1981 and the two teams have met at least twice annually since 1984. ISU posted a 14-10 record against Drake through 1994. From 1995-2004, the
Bulldogs went 18-3 against ISU, including a 14-game winning streak. ISU is 15-5 against Drake since 2005, winning six-straight matchups before falling to Drake on Feb. 17, 2011, in Des Moines, Iowa. Drake leads the series 18-13 in games played in
Des Moines, Iowa.

FLASHBACK: JAN. 3 ILLINOIS STATE 80, DRAKE 71
Despite watching a 23-point lead in the first dwindled to six points late in the second half, Illinois State snapped a six-game losing streak and won its Missouri Valley Conference opener against Drake on Doug Collins Court at Redbird Arena. ISU was led by Alexis Foley with 20 points, 17 of which she scored in the first 12 minutes of the contest. Foley was joined in double figures by Octavia Crump, who scored a career-best 17 points on 6-for-8 shooting from the field and a 5-for-5 effort from the free throw line. Stekara
Hall and Lindsay Smith rounded out the quartet of Redbirds with double digits with 14 points each.

WORKING WINGE
In the last five games, Katy Winge has averaged 11.2 points per game, which is the second most on the team. She has scored in double figures in the last four games. Winge is shooting 64 percent (23-of-36) from the field and 46 percent (5-of-11) from three-point territory in the last five games. With more playing time in the paint, Winge has also pulled down 2.8 rebounds per game and dished out 10 assists and recorded seven steals. Prior to the last five games, Winge was averaging 4.8 points per game.

SECOND HALF COMEBACK
In Illinois State’s 69-61 win over Loyola Sunday, the Redbirds were trailing the Ramblers by five points at halftime, 26-21. Then, ISU scored 48 points in the second half thanks to 29 made free throws to regain momentum and the lead. At the free throw line, ISU shot
29-of-42 (69 percent), setting a season-high for made free throws, which it had previously set at Missouri State (Feb. 23), a week prior.
The 48 points in the second half, were the most made by the Redbirds this season.

ONLY THE THIRD TIME
At halftime of Sunday’s game (March 2) against Loyola, the Redbirds were trailing by five points, 26-21. When down going into the locker room at the break, the Redbirds had a record of 2-14, but on Sunday, ISU improved that record to 3-14. Illinois State shot 40 percent from the field and 69 percent from the free throw line in the victory. The only other two times the Redbirds came back to win after trailing at halftime was against Indiana State (Feb. 7) and Missouri State (March 23).

DOUBLE TROUBLE
Octavia Crump recorded the fourth double-double of her career and the fourth this season against Loyola (March 2). Crump netted 18 points with 12 in the second half, as well as 10 rebounds. Crump connected on 50 percent of her shots from the field (4-of-8) and found the bottom of the net on a career-high 10-of-12 performance at the free throw line. Crump sank eight field goals and connected on five free throws in 29 minutes of play. She also had two steals in 22 minutes in the 69-61 victory over the Ramblers. Crump’s previous double-doubles came against Bradley (Feb. 2), Northern Illinois (Dec. 4) and then-No. 25 DePaul (Nov. 18).

DOMINATING THE BOARDS
In ISU’s 69-61 win over Loyola (March 2), the Redbirds pulled down 44 rebounds, the third most boards collected by the Redbirds this season. ISU had 12 offensive boards and 32 defensive rebounds, amounting to 44, while Loyola grabbed 29 boards. The rebounding advantage was the second most by ISU this season, as the Redbirds pulled down 17 more rebounds than Northern Kentucky (Nov. 13) in the season opener.

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