NORMAL, Ill.  – The Illinois State women's basketball team returns home to Redbird Arena to close out the first half of the Missouri Valley Conference season. The Redbirds welcome Bradley Friday at 7:05 p.m., before hosting Loyola Sunday at 12:05 p.m. Illinois State leads the all-time series with Bradley, 45-20, since 1984, and ISU is perfect in the all-time series with Loyola, 7-0.
Despite pulling within three points in the middle of the second half, a late 22-2 run by the Lady Bears proved to be too much, as Illinois State fell to Missouri State, 58-35, at JQH Arena (Jan. 25). Katy Winge led all scorers with 17 points.
Octavia Crump added eight points with six coming in the second half, while Zenobia Bess scored five in the contest. Illinois State shot 24 percent from the field, while the late run by Missouri State helped MSU connect on 36 percent of its field goal attempts. Taylor Stewart led the Redbirds on the boards, as she matched a career high with eight rebounds, which she accomplished for the third time this season. Mary Sims grabbed six boards, while Bess and Colleene Smith both collected five rebounds. MSU had a slight advantage on the boards, as it pulled down 37 compared to ISU's 35 rebounds.
ILLINOIS STATE-BRADLEY SERIES
Illinois State leads the all-time series with Bradley, 45-20, since 1984. The two teams have met at least twice each year since 1984. While Bradley has never won more than two-consecutive games over ISU, the Redbirds have five winning streaks of at least four games. Bradley snapped a 15-game winning streak by Illinois State on March 7, 2013 that dated back to 2006, with 11 of those wins coming by double-digits. Illinois State has the advantage in games played at Normal, 23-8.
ILLINOIS STATE-LOYOLA SERIES
Illinois State leads the all-time series with Loyola, 7-0. The first game of the series was played on March 2, 1978. The two teams faced off for four-straight seasons from 2004 through the 2008 season. ISU holds a 3-0 advantage of games played in Normal, Illinois.
ANOTHER HOMESTAND
Illinois State returns home to Redbird Arena Friday, as it begins a four-game homestand. It is the second time this season that the Redbirds have had more than three-straight home contests. From Dec. 7 to Jan. 4, ISU had six-straight home games. With four-straight home games over two weeks, the Redbirds hope to return to their winning ways.
FINDING THE BOTTOM OF THE NET
In ISU's last three games, the Redbirds are averaging 36.3 points per game and connecting on 22 percent of their shot attempts. It is the first time in program history that the Redbirds have dropped three-straight games, scoring less than 40 points in each contest. The previous mark of two-straight losses scoring less than 40 points came during the 2013-14 season on Dec. 15 and Dec. 18.
A LATE RUN
Despite pulling within three points in the middle of the second half, a late 22-2 run by the Lady Bears proved to be too much, as the Illinois State women's basketball team fell to Missouri State, 58-35, Sunday at JQH Arena. Octavia Crump scored the first field goal of the second half for the Redbirds at the 13:13 mark. Despite struggling from the floor early in the second half, ISU regrouped and pulled within five points, 34-29, thanks to a 6-0 run in the middle of the half. MSU was scoreless for nearly six minutes during the Redbird run. Illinois State pulled within three, but a scoring drought by the Redbirds and a 12-0 run by the Lady Bears gave Missouri State a 48-33 lead with three minutes left in the game. Crump hit a jumper to end the MSU run, but back-to-back threes by Missouri State ignited a 10-0 run. The Lady Bears ended the game with a 22-2 run, as the Redbirds ran out of time.
NEED MORE OFFENSE
At Wichita State (Jan. 23), the Redbirds fell, 85-38, due to several scoring droughts. The Redbirds were scoreless for nearly 15 minutes in the game, as a hot-shooting Shocker team used the droughts to its advantage. It was the second-straight game that the Redbirds scored less than 40 points in a contest. It was also the second-straight game that ISU wasn't able to score 20 points in a half, as Illinois State netted just 17 points in the second half of Friday's game. The Redbirds are looking to get its offense going at Missouri State.
AT THE CHARITY STRIPE
Against Wichita State (Jan. 23), the Redbirds sank seven free throws out of 16 attempts, connecting on 44 percent from the free throw line. It marked the third time this season that Illinois State shot less than 50 percent from the charity stripe.
A BETTER BENCH
Kelli Tolar scored a career-high six points at Wichita State (Jan. 23), including a career-high two shots beyond the arc. Tolar and the rest of the Redbird bench outscored the Shocker bench by three points, 18-15. It marked the fifth time the Redbird bench has outscored an opponent's bench this season. It was the first time in 10 games that Illinois State accomplished the feat. The last time ISU outscored an opponent's bench was Nov. 29, 2014, against Buffalo.
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