NORMAL, Ill. – The Illinois State women's basketball team will head south for a pair of Missouri Valley Conference games, at Evansville Friday and Southern Illinois Sunday. Friday's game at Evansville's Ford Center is set for a 7 p.m. tipoff, while Sunday's tilt at Southern Illinois' SIU Arena is scheduled for a 2 p.m. start.
Illinois State (4-14, 2-5 MVC) will try to improve its current seventh-place standing in league play against last-place Evansville (2-16, 1-6) and fifth-place Southern Illinois (11-8, 4-3).
The Redbirds are back in action after splitting a pair of conference games last weekend on Doug Collins Court at Redbird Arena. In a 54-49 win over Bradley on Jan. 22, Octavia Crump led the Redbirds with a game-high 16 points and seven rebounds, while Shakeela Fowler and Viria Livingston helped secure the victory as each player made two free throws over the game's final 13 seconds.
Illinois State struggled in its Feb. 24 game against Loyola, however, as the Ramblers used an 18-0 first-half run to build a lead the Redbirds were unable to overcome. Colleene Smith and Crump scored 10 points each to lead Illinois State in a 57-41 loss.
Evansville enters Friday's game after suffering road losses at Missouri State and Wichita State last weekend. The Purple Aces are led by junior Sara Dickey, the Valley's third-leading scorer at 16.3 points per game.
Illinois State owns a 27-17 edge in the all-time series against Evansville, including a 16-5 mark in games played at Evansville, despite three losses to the Purple Aces last year, the final coming in an opening-round contest at the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament.
Southern Illinois also lost its games at Wichita State and Missouri State last weekend, dropping the Salukis from a share of third place in the league standings to a share of fifth. Southern Illinois is led by a trio of players averaging double figures in scoring, in Rishonda Napier (14.7 ppg), Dyana Pierre (14.0 ppg) and Cartaesha Macklin (13.1 ppg).
Illinois State holds a 55-39 lead in the all-time series against Southern Illinois, and a 22-19 mark in games played in Carbondale. The Redbirds and Salukis each won on their home floor last year.
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.
