NORMAL, Ill.  –The Illinois State women's basketball team returns to the road for the first time in over a month, as the road swing marks the first road games for ISU in the conference season. ISU will take on Drake Friday at 7:05 p.m., before traveling to Northern Iowa for a 2:05 p.m., game Sunday. ISU is looking for its first win of the season.
Southern Illinois defeated Illinois State in the Redbirds' Missouri Valley Conference opener, 65-56, Sunday (Jan. 4) at Redbird Arena. Stekara Hall led the Redbirds with 17 points and Octavia Crump and Katy Winge also tallied double figures, with 14 and 12, respectively.
Crump recorded the sixth double-double of her career and the second of the season with 13 rebounds to go along with her 14 points. Statistically, the game was played fairly even. SIU held a slight rebounding advantage, 42-40, and turnovers, 17-16. Both teams also made 21 field goals.
ISU holds a slight advantage in the all-time series with a 35-34 record against Drake.   Illinois State leads the all-time series with Northern Iowa in a convincing 41-27 series record.
ILLINOIS STATE-DRAKE SERIES
Illinois State holds a slight advantage in the all-time series with a 35-34 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, theBulldogs went 18-3 against ISU, including a 14-game winning streak. ISU is 16-6 against Drake since 2005, winning six-straight matchups before falling to Drake on Feb. 17, 2011, in Des Moines, Iowa. Drake leads the series 19-13 in games played in Des Moines, Iowa.
ILLINOIS STATE-NORTHERN IOWA SERIES
Illinois State leads the all-time series with Northern Iowa, 41-27. 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 25-19 advantage in the series. ISU holds a slight 16-15 record in games played in Cedar Falls, Iowa.
ON THE ROAD AGAIN
The Illinois State women's basketball team will return to the road for the first time this weekend in over a month. The Redbirds last road game was Nov. 29, against Buffalo in the Miami Thanksgiving tournament in Miami, Florida. Since Nov. 29, the Redbirds hosted six-straight home games and didn't leave Normal, Illinois, for a contest all through December. ISU will travel to Iowa to take on Drake (Jan. 9) and Northern Iowa (Jan. 11) for its first road trip of the Missouri Valley Conference season.
LARGEST LEAD
On Sunday (Jan. 4), the Illinois State women's basketball team hosted Southern Illinois in its Missouri Valley Conference opener. The Redbirds went into the locker room leading at halftime, 25-18. It marked the first time this season that ISU was leading at the half. Illinois State kept the momentum at the start of the second half, as it jumped out to a 13-point lead with 13:47 left in the game. The 13-point advantage was the largest lead by the Redbirds this season. The previous best was an 11-point lead over Colorado State (Nov. 23), at the 14:06 mark of the first half thanks to a strong start. Despite the 13-point margin, the Redbirds weren't able to hold on to the lead and fell in their conference opener, 65-56.
CALLING CRUMP
Octavia Crump led the Redbirds in their Missouri Valley Conference opener against Southern Illinois, as she recorded the sixth double-double of her career and the second of the season with 13 rebounds to go along with her 14 points. Crump connected on six field goals and two free throws, while collecting six offensive boards in 35 minutes. The Zion, Illinois, native also had two steals in the contest. In ISU's last seven games, dating back to Nov. 29 against Buffalo, Crump has netted 100 points, averaging 14.3 points per game, leading the team by four points per game. She has also recorded 10 steals in the last seven games, while connecting on 55 percent of her shot attempts, setting team highs in both. On the season, Crump leads the Redbirds in points per game (11.6) and field goal percentage (.552). She is second on the team in blocks and rebounds.
TAKE IT AND RUN
In the Valley season opener, the Redbirds recorded 10 steals against Southern Illinois (Jan. 4), marking their second-best performance in take aways this season. The season best is 12, which ISU accomplished on Nov. 19 against Northern Kentucky. In the 65-56 loss to SIU, four Redbirds recorded two steals. It was the first time this season that four Redbirds had two or more steals in one game.
SHARING THE BALL
Through 12 games, the Redbirds have only recorded double-digit assists twice, as they continue to struggle sharing the ball. On the season, the Redbirds have dished out 86 assists, while their opponents tallied 181. In the MVC season opener against Southern Illinois (Jan. 4), Illinois State handed out just three assists. ISU's 7.2 assists per game is ninth in the Valley, a rank it hopes to improve during the conference season.
LOOKING FOR A NEW STREAK
The Illinois State women's basketball team opened the 2014-15 season dropping 12-straight games. The Redbirds are the first team in program history to fall in its first 12 games. The 2001-02 team lost its first seven games, before defeating Northern Illinois (Dec. 20, 2001) by three points in Normal, Illinois. ISU hopes the tough non-conference season will result in its first victory in Missouri Valley Conference play and start a winning streak. The longest losing streak in women's basketball history is 13 games, which happened during the 1998-99 season, when the Redbirds were winless from Dec. 30 through Feb. 13.
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