NORMAL, Ill. – The Illinois State women's basketball team will take to the road this weekend as they travel to Valparaiso on Friday and take on the Ramblers of Loyola in the Windy City on Sunday.
GAME INFORMATION
Illinois State Redbirds (6-6, 0-1) vs. Valparaiso Crusaders (7-6, 0-2)
When: Friday, January 5
Tip-Off: 7p.m.CT
Location: Athletics Recreation Center – Valparaiso, Ind.
THE SERIES
• The Redbirds hold a 3-1 record over the Crusaders. This is the first time the teams will meet as MVC opponents and the first home game for the Crusaders as an MVC member. Â
• The teams most recently met on Nov. 19, 2016 at Redbird Arena and the Birds captured a 77-56 victory.
• This is the first time Coach Gillespie and Coach Dorow will meet.
• However, Coach Dorow played for the Redbirds from 1990-1993 and led her team in assists as a sophomore.
• The Redbirds are 1-0 when facing Valparaiso on the road.
REDBIRD BITS
• Illinois State most recently dropped to Bradley 62-42 in their MVC home opener.  Simone Goods led all scorers with 22 points and added a new career high of 14 rebounds.
• The Redbirds finished out the non-conference season on a high note as they brought home some hardware for the holidays. The team defeated Northeastern in the championship game of the Beach Classic. Hannah Green was named to the All-Tournament team and Goods was named as the tournament MVP.
• The Redbirds have committed less than 10 turnovers in two out of the last four games. The last time they committed less than 10 turnovers in a game was at Wisconsin on Nov. 16, 2014.
• Paige Saylor continues to frustrate her opponents, averaging 2.5 steals per game. Saylor leads the MVC in steals per game and has a season and career high of 7 steals in a game.
•Three Redbirds lead all of the MVC in minutes, Paige Saylor (37.5), Viria Livingston (37.3) and Katrina Beck (37.3).
 SCOUTING THE CRUSADERS
• This is the first year that the Crusaders are a part of the Missouri Valley Conference and were tabbed to finish ninth in the preseason poll just above Loyola.
• Valparaiso sits behind Illinois State at seventh in the current rankings after dropping two MVC games. The team fell to Drake (86-50) and Northern Iowa (77-56).
• Dani Franklin became the first Valpo player in 15 years to crack the program's Top 3, has 1,461 career points. She also currently leads the Valley, averaging 17.3 points per game.
• The Crusaders have won all seven games they've had a better free throw percentage than their opponent and lost all six games they've had a worse free throw percentage than their opponent.Â
• The Crusaders have won seven-straight home games and enter the weekend as the only Valley team undefeated at home.
DEFENSIVE STRENGTHÂ Â Â Â Â Â
The Redbirds lead the MVC and are tied for 12th in the nation for their defensive efforts, holding their opponents to 54.5 points per game. They are ranked 14th in the nation for opponent field goal percentage, with their opponents averaging 34.1 percent from the field.
NEXT UP
The Redbirds return home for a pair of MVC games as they take on Missouri State on Friday and Southern Illinois on Sunday.
