NORMAL, Ill. – The Illinois State women's basketball team will travel to Iowa for a pair of Missouri Valley Conference contests this weekend against teams tied for second place in the league standings.
The Redbirds will take on Northern Iowa at 7 p.m. Friday at the McLeod Center, in Cedar Falls, Iowa, before a 6 p.m. game versus Drake Sunday at the Knapp Center, in Des Moines, Iowa.
Illinois State (3-11, 1-2 MVC) suffered a 63-56 defeat at the hands of Indiana State in the Redbirds' last time out, Jan. 10, in Terre Haute, Indiana. Colleene Smith tallied a career-high 17 points, and nearly matched her career-best rebounding total, with 12 boards, in the loss. Octavia Crump added 12 points and seven rebounds for the Redbirds.
Northern Iowa (8-7, 3-1) enters play Friday after posting wins at Wichita State and Missouri State last weekend. Amber Sorenson posted a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds in a 55-44 win at Wichita State on Jan. 8. Madison Weekly then tallied 28 points for the Panthers two days later, in a 65-60 win at Missouri State, on Jan. 10.
Illinois State owns a 41-29 all-time record against Northern Iowa, although the Panthers won both meetings last season. In games played in Cedar Falls, the teams are knotted up with 16 wins apiece.
Drake (10-5, 3-1) won both its games last weekend as well, posting road wins at Missouri State and Wichita State. Lizzy Wendell led the Bulldogs in scoring in both games – scoring 19 in an 82-75 win at Missouri State on Jan. 8, and a season-high 27 in an 87-56 win at Wichita State on Jan. 10 – and has led her team in scoring in 12 of 15 games this season.
Drake holds a slight edge in the all-time series with Illinois State, at 36-35. The Bulldogs have won three-straight over the Redbirds, and are 20-13 against Illinois State in games played in Des Moines.
Both of this weekend's games will be streamed live online on ESPN3, and links for live video, audio and stats can be found at GoRedbirds.com. Fans can also receive live updates from the game by following @Redbirdwbb on Twitter.
GoRedbirds.com: Your online source for Illinois State Athletics tickets, Weisbecker Scholarship Fund gifts, multimedia, Redbird merchandise, photos and more.
