Road Trip At Wichita State, Missouri State Wraps Up Regular Season

NORMAL, Ill. – Fresh off a senior day victory over Evansville, the Illinois State women's basketball team will look to hold onto the No. 7 spot in the Missouri Valley Conference standing with a strong finish in its final two games of the regular season at Wichita State and Missouri State this weekend.

The two-game road swing begins Thursday at 7 p.m. at Wichita State and concludes Saturday at 2 p.m. at Missouri State. 

The Redbirds (7-20, 5-11) sit in seventh place in the Missouri Valley Conference standings heading into the final weekend of play. ISU needed a late surge to send its three seniors out winners, as the Redbirds earned a 65-59 win over visiting Evansville last Sunday on Senior Day 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.

Octavia 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 Colleene Smith pulled down 11 rebounds.

Illinois State is 43-26 all-time against Wichita State Wichita State (7-20, 4-12), including an 18-15 mark in games played in Wichita, Kansas. ISU won the earlier matchup this season, 70-49, in Normal, Illinois, and the Shockers are right behind the Redbirds in eighth place in the MVC standings.  

Wichita State's Rangie Bessard ranks in the top-five in the Valley in scoring (15.5 per game) and rebounding (7.7 per game). The Shockers are one of the better free throw shooting teams in the MVC, shooting 71.1 percent from the charity stripe as a team this season. 

Missouri State (19-9, 12-4) is in third place in the conference standings and the Bears are 38-31 all-time against Illinois State, including a 20-12 mark in games played in Springfield, Missouri. The Bears won an earlier matchup this season, 73-51, in Normal, Illinois. Missouri State's Tyonna Snow ranks third in the MVC in scoring, averaging 16.5 points per game. Snow is also the top thief in the Valley, averaging 3.3 steals per game. The Bears offense is second to Drake in points per game with an average of 70.5 per contest.

Both games will be streamed live 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.

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