Watch (ESPN3) | Listen (WJBC) | Live Stats
Game Notes | Twitter Updates @Redbirdwbb
NORMAL, Ill. – The Illinois State women's basketball team (2-2) returns to the road Saturday evening when the Redbirds travel to DeKalb, Illinois, to take on Northern Illinois (3-1), with tipoff slated for 6 p.m. inside the NIU Convocation Center.
THE SERIES:
Illinois State and Northern Illinois are meeting for the 24th time in program history, with the Redbirds holding a 16-7 advantage in the all-time series. However, Illinois State is only 3-5 in games played in DeKalb.
THE COACHES:
Illinois State: Barb Smith (Ohio State, 1986) is in her fourth season as the head coach at Illinois State and has the Redbirds off to their first 2-2 start since the 2012-13 season.
NIU: Lisa Carlsen (Northwest Missouri State, 1992) is in her second season as the head coach at Northern Illinois (14-20) and her 14th season overall (198-183) as a head coach, with stops at Lewis University and Omaha.
ILLINOIS STATE:
The Redbirds were picked to finish eighth in the Missouri Valley Conference. Illinois State improved to over .500 for the first time since finishing the 2012-13 season 24-11, after the Redbirds handled Valparaiso, 77-56, in their 2016-17 home opener last Saturday, before falling at home Tuesday to Yale, 59-45.
NORTHERN ILLINOIS:
Picked to finish fifth in the six-team Mid-American Conference West Division, the Huskies are off to a 3-1 start, with both home victories coming over Milwaukee (114-104, 2OT) and Chicago State (94-85), with the former visiting Redbird Arena next month. NIU also won at MVC-foe Loyola, 90-70, to start the season, and lost its only contest, 83-79, at Western Illinois, who the Redbirds face on the road five days before Christmas. The Huskies are led by Preseason All-MAC West Team selection Ally Lehman, who leads the Huskies in scoring (21.3), rebounding (12.3), assists (5.8) and steals (2.5). Six players score in double-figures, and Courtney Woods adds 20.0 points per game and has made 15-of-31 triples for NIU, who averages 94.3 points per game.
LOOKING TO START 3-2
A victory over Northern Illinois would give the Redbirds their first 3-2 start since the 2012-13 season when they started out 4-2.
ALL-TIME SEREIS VS THE HUSKIES
Saturday's meeting with Northern Illinois will be the 24th meeting in the all-time series, which dates back to Jan. 8, 1972, when the Redbirds fell at home, 60-38. Illinois State went on to win the next five, eight of nine, nine of 11 and 10 of 13, before constructing another five-game win streak from Dec. 31, 2007 - Nov. 26, 2011. However, the Huskies have won the last three in the series (all over the last three seasons) and the two sides have play every season over 10 of the last 11 years. The Redbirds are only 3-5 all-time in DeKalb.
AGAINST THE HUSKIES IN NOVEMBER
Saturday's meeting with Northern Illinois will be the seventh meeting in the all-time series in games played in the month of November, dating back to Nov. 23, 1999 when the Redbirds escaped with a 65-64 victory at Redbird Arena. Both sides have each won three games, all on their home court. Illinois State has also won both previous meetings taking place Nov. 26 (60-50 in 2005, and 81-62 in 2011).
VERSUS THE MID-AMERICAN CONFERENCE
Illinois State holds a 47-23 record against current members of the MAC, with nearly a third of those victories over Northern Illinois (16-7). The last MAC team the Redbirds played not named Northern Illinois was the 2015-16 season opener at Bowling Green when Illinois State was defeated 70-52.
WINNING BACK-TO-BACK NONCONFERENCE ROAD GAMES
A win over Northern Illinois would give Illinois State back-to-back nonconference road wins for the first time since winning at Illinois (69-68 - Dec. 21, 2012) and Butler (65-57 - Dec. 30, 2012).
SO MUCH ROBBERY
The Redbirds recorded a season-high 18 steals in the win over Valparaiso and have 37 thefts over their last two games. Joining junior Hannah Green with four steals against the Crusaders was sophomore Katrina Beck, who registered a career high, and senior Brechelle Beachum recorded a season-high three. Eight of the 11 Redbirds who played tallied at least one. And against Yale, Beck once again tied her career high with four.
ABOVE .500
The win over Valparaiso moved the Redbirds over the .500 mark for the first time since finishing the 2012-13 season with a record of 24-11.
STEWART'S CAREER DAY FOLLOWS STEWART'S CAREER NIGHT
Senior Taylor Stewart poured in a career-high 24 points and tied the program record for most three-pointers in a game with seven in the win over Valparaiso. She made of 7-of-12 from behind the arc, setting new career highs in both three-point field goals and attempts, and finished the game 7-of-14 from the field, tying her career best made field goals. In the previous contest at UIC, Stewart tied or set a new career high in six different categories. She scored a then career-best 19 points, connected on a career-high seven field goals, tied a career best in field goal attempts with 15, swished a then career-high four three's, took a then career-best 10 three-pointers and recorded a career-high four steals for the third time in her career. Over the two-game sample, Stewart averaged 21.5 points, 4.5 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 2.5 steals per game.
GREEN GOBBLES UP VALPO
Junior Hannah Green produced a solid all-around performance in the win over Valparaiso. Not only did she produce season highs in points (15), rebounds (9) and steals (4), she held the Crusaders' leading scorer, Dani Franklin, to only seven points, 18.5 points below her season average.
STEVENS SHINES AFTER SLOW START AGAINST VALPARAISO
Sophomore Millie Stevens missed her first six shots against Valparaiso, but she finished strong, scoring a season-high 15 points while tying a career high in rebounds with nine.
LIVINGSTON STUFFS THE STAT SHEET
Sophomore Viria Livingston stuffed the stat sheet against Valparaiso with five points, a season-high seven rebounds, a career-best six assists and two steals. She also set the tone on defense with her ball pressure.
DRAINING FROM DOWNTOWN
The Redbirds recorded a season-high 10 triples against Valparaiso, their most in a game since making 10 against Bradley, Feb. 12, 2012.
TURNOVERS
The Redbirds took much better care of the basketball against Valparaiso and turned the ball over only 12 times. Illinois State's defensive pressure forced the Crusaders into 30 turnovers, which led to a 27-8 advantage in points off turnovers.
WINNING THE BATTLE ON THE GLASS
The Redbirds won the battle on the glass for the first time this season, 43-39, in the win over Valparaiso. Illinois State also held a huge lead on the offensive boards, 20-7, which resulted in a 16-4 lead in second-chance points.
BEACHUM RIGHT BEHIND AT UIC
Senior Brechelle Beachum also had a career night offensively in the win over UIC, tying or establishing career highs in four different categories. She netted a career-best 15 points, made a career-high five field goals, tied a career best in field goal attempts with 13 and tied her career high in made three's with two.
NONCONFERENCE ROAD LOSING SKID ENDS
Illinois State's victory at UIC ended a 15-game losing streak in true nonconference road games. Before Monday night's win, the Redbirds' last win on the road in the nonconference was Dec. 30, 2012 when they won at Butler, 65-57. Including neutral site games, Illinois State had lost 19 of its last 20 away from Redbird Arena, with its only win coming in a 68-64 triumph over Florida, Nov. 29, 2013 in the Bahamas.
1-1 START
Illinois State's win over UIC produced the Redbirds' second-consecutive 1-1 start to the season.
46TH SEASON OPENER
Illinois State dropped to 21-25 all-time in season openers, after falling at No. 18/16 Arizona State.
LONGEST ROAD TRIP
The season-opening trip to Tempe, Arizona, then to Chicago, Illinois, was Illinois State's longest road trip of the season in terms of days (5) and miles (3,652) roundtrip.
REDBIRDS PICKED EIGHTH IN THE MISSOURI VALLEY CONFERENCE
Illinois State was selected to finish eighth in the 2016-17 Missouri Valley Conference Preseason Poll, announced Tuesday, Oct. 25 by the league prior to the start of the league's Media Day at the St. Louis City Center Hotel. The poll is compiled from votes by the conference's sports information directors, media and coaches. The Redbirds received 123 points in the poll, after finishing seventh last season when they were predicted to finish last. Drake is the favorite to win the league, as the Bulldogs collected 392 points and 34 out of a possible 40 first-place votes. Northern Iowa is predicted to finish second with 317 points and four first-place votes, while Missouri State was picked right behind the Panthers in third place with 313 points and the final two first-place votes. Southern Illinois (306), Wichita State (248), Indiana State (199) and Bradley (141) fill out slots four through seven. Completing the final two spots in the poll after ISU is Evansville (109) and Loyola Chicago (52).
NEEDS REPLACING
Illinois State lost its top-three scorers from a year ago, who combined to average 30.5 points per game, which was 52.4 percent of the team's scoring.
RETURNING REDBIRDS
Sophomores Katrina Beck and Viria Livingston are the squad's top-two returning scorers, with Beck averaging 5.9 points and Livingston 5.5 points per game last season. Livingston led the Redbirds on the glass during her freshman campaign with 6.1 rebounds per game, and she is the top-returning distributor from a year ago with 36 assists, and steals leader with 33. She also set the program record for most offensive rebounds by a freshman with 78, which was good enough for the eighth-best tally in single-season history. Beck, meanwhile, looks to improve upon her team-leading 31 triples from a year ago. The duo also returns with the most starting experience from last season, combining for 47 starts. Each student-athlete played in 28 game, with Livingston starting 25 and averaging 29.1 minutes per game, while Beck started 22 contests and averaged 23.6 minutes per game. Senior Taylor Stewart is the most experienced student-athlete in the program, having played in all 90 games, including 30 career starts, with four coming last season. She averaged 5.1 points, 2.8 rebounds and 21.2 minutes per game to go along with 35 assists, 27 steals and 26 made three's. Sophomore Millie Stevens (3.2 points, 2.8 rebounds) and senior Brechelle Beachum (3.0 points, 1.6 rebounds, 31 steals) also return and add much-needed depth. Both student-athletes made six starts, while Stevens played in 29 games and Beachum all 30.
NEW FACES
Out of the six incoming freshmen, three hail from the state of Illinois: Frannie Corrigan (LaGrange Park, Ill./Lyons Township), Morgan VanHyfte (Annawan, Ill./Annawan) and Megan Talbot (Barrington, Ill./Barrington). Zakiya Beckles (Middlesex, N.J./Middlesex), Deja Turner (Tampa, Fla./Plant) and Amaria Allen (Cincinnati, Ohio/Colerain) are the other incoming freshmen. Junior Hannah Green (Santa Clarita, Calif./West Ranch (College of the Canyons)) is a junior college transfer from the state of California. Green will be a junior and averaged 13.9 points, 13.7 rebounds and 6.5 blocks per game, as she led the California Community College Athletic Association (CCCAA) in blocks per game and ranked third in caroms per game.
ONE OF THE YOUNGEST IN THE NATION
With its roster consisting of six freshmen, three sophomores, one junior and only two seniors, the 2016-17 edition of the Redbirds will be one of the youngest teams in the nation.
REST OF THE NONCONFERENCE
The Redbirds will not have to travel far during the nonconference portion of their schedule, after starting the season at Arizona State. ISU plays its next 10 games in their home state, with six taking place inside Redbird Arena against the likes of Valparaiso, Yale, Eastern Illinois, Wisconsin, Milwaukee and George Mason. The Redbirds will have the luxury of only having to travel to UIC, Northern Illinois, Western Illinois and SIUE.
UP NEXT
The Redbirds return to Redbird Arena to start a four-game homestand over 11 days when they welcome Eastern Illinois this Thursday, Dec. 1, with tipoff slated for 7 p.m. on Doug Collins Court.
GoRedbirds.com: Your online source for Illinois State Athletics tickets, Weisbecker Scholarship Fund gifts, multimedia, Redbird merchandise, photos and more.
