NORMAL, Ill. – The Illinois State women's basketball team hosts the Indiana State Sycamores for a Friday night rematch in Redbird Arena.
GAME INFORMATION
Illinois State Redbirds (11-13, 5-8) vs. Indiana State Sycamores (8-15, 6-6)
When: Friday, Feb. 16
Tip-Off: 7p.m.CT
THE SERIES
• The Redbirds are 49-44 overall when facing the Sycamores. The Birds are 30-18 at home, 16-24 at Indiana State and 3-2 at a neutral site.
• The teams most recently met on Jan. 21 in Terre Haute, Indiana and the Birds fell 52-49.
• This is the second time Coach Gillespie and Coach Keister will meet.
REDBIRD BITS
• Illinois State most recently dropped to Missouri State 75-58, which is the most points the team has given up all season.
• The Redbirds captured a three-game win streak after Friday's win, which is the most conference wins in a row the program has seen in four years. The last time the program secured 11 total wins was in the 2013-14 season.
• 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 6.1 and 6.2, respectively.
• The Redbird defense continues to be the strongest in the Valley and sits ninth in the country for scoring defense, allowing 54.5 points per game and is seventh in the nation for field-goal percentage defense holding opponents to an average of 34.7 percent.
• Freshman point guard Paige Saylor continues to frustrate opponents, stealing 2.5 per game. Saylor has led the MVC all season in this statistical category. Â
• 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 5-4 since the coaching change. Josh Keister was named the interim head coach at Indiana State on Jan. 2 following the resignation of Joey Wells.
• Since Keister has taken over, the team has improved in almost every statistic category.
• Wendi Bibbins, Tierra Webb, Ashli O'Neal and Ashley Taia enter the game ranked in the top 10 in the Missouri Valley Conference in steals per game.
• O'Neal leads scoring efforts for the Sycamores, averaging 11.3 points per game.
• Bibbins enters this game leading the league in offensive rebounds (3.5 per game), ranks second in rebounds per game (8.9) and is second in The Valley in defensive rebounds (5.3).
COMMUNITY CULTURE NIGHT
Illinois State Athletics would like to recognize and welcome multicultural groups from campus and the community to Friday night's game.
NEXT UP
The Redbirds take to the road for a pair of MVC matchups against on Northern Iowa Friday at 7p.m. and Drake on Sunday at 2p.m.
GoRedbirds.com: Your online source for Illinois State Athletics tickets, Weisbecker Scholarship Fund gifts, multimedia, Redbird merchandise, photos and more.
