Redbirds Travel to the Windy City to Face Loyola

NORMAL, Ill. – The Illinois State women's basketball team finish their two game road swing on Sunday as they face the Loyola Ramblers.

GAME INFORMATION
Illinois State Redbirds (6-7, 0-2) vs. Loyola Ramblers (2-12, 0-3)

When: Sunday, January 7

Tip-Off: 1p.m.CT
Location: Gentile Arena – Chicago, Ill.

THE SERIES

• The Redbirds hold a 9-4 record over the Ramblers. The Birds are 5-1 at home, 3-3 at Loyola and 0-1 at a neutral site.

• The teams most recently met on Feb. 5, 2017 at Redbird Arena and the Birds captured a 63-51 victory.

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

REDBIRD BITS

• Illinois State most recently dropped to Valparaiso Friday night 56-50. Viria Livingston led the Birds with a double-double scoring 10 points and grabbing 10 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 Simone Goods was named as the tournament MVP.

• Paige Saylor continues to frustrate her opponents, averaging 2.7 steals per game. On Friday she snuck away with five steals and scored eight points. Saylor leads the MVC in steals per game and has a season and career high of 7 steals in a game.

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

 • Megan Talbot, Livingston and Green are all in the top ten of the MVC for rebounding.

 SCOUTING THE RAMBLERS

• The Ramblers own a 2-12 record after most recently dropping to Bradley by just two points.

• The Ramblers were picked to finish last in MVC preseason poll behind Valparaiso.  

• The team returned six letter winners from last season, including three of the team's top four scorers.

• Freshman Abby O'Connor leads her team, avegaing 9.2 points per game and 5.4 rebounds per game. She has a season and career high of 20 points in a single game.

• Brandi Segars was one of only three Ramblers to appear in all 30 games last season and closed the year ranked third on the roster in scoring (7.7 ppg).

BATTLE FOR ILLINOIS

Four in-state university basketball programs have the opportunity to earn bragging rights to a new trophy as the "Battle for Illinois" rivalry series was introduced by the respective athletic departments for Bradley, Illinois State, Loyola and Southern Illinois.  Both men's and women's basketball teams for the four universities will accrue points in featured head-to-head competition only. One point will be earned for each win. In the event of a tie, the following will determine the Battle for Illinois winner: 1) Head-to-head record among the tied schools; 2) regular-season conference record; 3) overall regular-season record (conference and non-conference); 4) combined tournament wins; 5) average margin of victory (rivalry series games).

DEFENSIVE STRENGTH        

The Redbirds lead the MVC and are tied for 12^th in the nation for their defensive efforts, holding their opponents to 54.6 points per game. They are tied for ninth in the nation for opponent field goal percentage, with their opponents averaging 33.7 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.