Redbirds Travel to Terre Haute to Battle the Sycamores

NORMAL, Ill. – The Illinois State women's basketball team finish the Indiana road swing in Terre Haute, Indiana to face the Indiana State Sycamores.

GAME INFORMATION
Illinois State Redbirds (8-9, 2-4) vs. Indiana State Sycamores (4-13, 2-4)

When: Sunday, January 21

Tip-Off: 1p.m.CT

THE SERIES

• The Redbirds are 49-43 overall when facing the Sycamores. The Birds are 30-18 at home, 16-23 at Indiana State and 3-2 at a neutral site.

• The teams most recently met on March 9, 2017 at the conference tournament and the Birds captured a 51-44 victory.

• This is the first time Coach Gillespie and Coach Keister will meet.

REDBIRD BITS

• Illinois State captured their second straight MVC win on Friday night at Evansville, capturing their largest margin win of the season.

• Hannah Green led the way with a new career high of 22 points. She also grabbed eight rebounds and denied three shots. Green is top in the conference with blocked shots per game, averaging 2.1.

• Megan Talbot and Viria Livingston recently added their first career double-doubles during conference play. Both Talbot and Livingston are in the top 10 for rebounds per game with 6.8 and 6.2, respectively.

• The Redbird defense continues to be the strongest in the Valley as the team shut down Evansville, holding them to 23 points less than their season average.

• Freshman point guard Paige Saylor continues to frustrate opponents, stealing 2.6 per game. Saylor had led the MVC all season in this statistical category.  

• Green Simone Goods and Katrina Beck have each had noteworthy performances this season, earning them MVC Player of the Week Honors.

 SCOUTING THE SYCAMORES

• The Sycamores are 4-13 overall and 2-2 since the coaching change. Josh Keister was named the interim head coach at Indiana State on Jan. 2 following the resignation of Joey Wells.

• In the three games since the coaching transition, Indiana State has improved its field goal percentage and 3-point field goal percentage in every game.

• Wendi Bibbins, Tierra Webb and Ashli O'Neal enter the game ranked in the top 10 in the Missouri Valley Conference in steals per game.

•  Bibbins enters this game leading the league in offensive rebounds (3.7 per game), ranks second in rebounds per game (8.9) and is second in The Valley in defensive rebounds (5.2). Bibbins is also the leading scorer for the Sycamores, with 11.7 points per game.

DEFENSIVE STRENGTH        

The Redbirds lead the MVC are ranked fifth in the country for field goal percentage defense, holding their opponents to an average of 33.8 percent. They are also first in conference and tabbed sixth in scoring defense in the nation, allowing 53.9 points per game.

NEXT UP

The Redbirds return home for a pair of MVC matchups against Drake on Friday at 7p.m. and Northern Iowa on Sunday at 2p.m.

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