NORMAL, Ill. – The Illinois State women's basketball team needed a late surge to send its three seniors out winners, as the Redbirds earned a 65-59 win over visiting Evansville on Senior Day Sunday on Doug Collins Court at Redbird Arena.
Illinois State outscored the Purple Aces, 12-1, over the final 3:25, as the Redbirds turned a five-point deficit into a six-point win.
Outgoing seniors Octavia Crump, Colleene Smith and Lexie Taylor were honored after the game.
Crump matched a career-high with 22 points, while adding a season-high 12 rebounds. Shakeela Fowler and Taylor Stewart added 13 and 14 points, respectively, while Smith pulled down 11 rebounds.
The Redbirds were able to overcome an Evansville team that led by as many as nine points late in the third quarter. Led by Sara Dickey's game-high 28 points, Evansville led for 34:23 of 40 minutes Sunday. Illinois State led for just 2:17.
Crump scored the first points of the game, netting a jumper early in the first quarter, but the lead didn't last, as Evansville scored the next seven points and led the rest of the quarter. The Purple Aces finished the first 10 minutes of play with a 22-16 lead.
The Redbirds chipped away at the lead in the second quarter, as Crump and Taylor Stewart combined to score all nine of the Redbirds points in the period. Evansville held a 28-25 lead heading into the intermission, but the Redbirds erased that lead on their first offensive possession of the second half, as Crump drained a 3-pointer to knot things up at 28-28. Evansville controlled play the rest of the third period, though, twice building a lead that reached as many as nine points, and took a 51-43 lead into the final quarter of play.
Illinois State scored the first seven points of the fourth quarter to get within one point of the Purple Aces. Evansville built its lead back to as many as five points, at 58-53, with just under four minutes to play, but Illinois State answered with a three-point play from Crump. Another three-point play – this time from Stewart – gave the Redbirds their first lead since early in the first quarter, with 2:02 left in the game.
A driving layup from Fowler with 39 seconds remaining made it a two-possession game, but Evansville's Kerri Gasper made 1-of-2 foul shots with 28 seconds left to cut the Redbird lead back down to three at 62-59.
Crump was send to the line with 22 seconds left and missed both shots, but soared in for the rebound and finished with a putback to end all hopes of an Evansville comeback.
The Redbirds return to action next weekend with games at Wichita State Thursday and Missouri State Saturday. Links for live video, audio and stats are available at GoRedbirds.com, and fans can receive live updates from the games 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.Â
