NORMAL, Ill. – The Illinois State women's basketball team hosts the Evansville Aces for the final home game of the season in Redbird Arena.
GAME INFORMATION
Illinois State Redbirds (11-13, 5-8) vs. Evansville Aces ()
When: Sunday, Feb. 18
Tip-Off: 2p.m.CT
THE SERIES
• The Redbirds are 31-19 overall when facing the Aces. The Birds are 13-10 at home, 18-6 at Evansville and 0-3 at a neutral site.
• The teams most recently met on Jan. 19, 2018 at Evansville and the Redbirds captured a 67-43 victory.
• This is the second time Coach Gillespie and Coach Ruffing will meet.
REDBIRD BITS
• Illinois State most recently defeated the Indiana State Sycamores 63-53, led by Simone Goods with a career high of 29 points.
• Goods also grabbed 10 boards, securing a double-double in Friday night's game and added a new career high with five steals.
• The Redbirds captured a three-game win streak this season, which is the most conference wins in a row the program has seen in four years. The last time the program secured 12 or more wins was in the 2012-13 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 ACES
• The Aces faced Bradley on Friday night and dropped 92-47. The Aces are winless in conference and look to capture their first MVC win of the season.
• Evansville leads the Valley in free-throw percentage, averaging 83.2 percent.
• The Aces were tabbed eighth in the MVC preseason poll, one spot behind the Redbirds.
• Hannah Noe is a huge scoring threat behind the arc, leading the MVC in 3-point shots and 3-point field goal percentage. The Graduate student averages 2.9 3-point field goals per game, shooting 35.4 percent. Noe is the lead scorer for the Aces, averaging 14.0 points per game. Noe also became the second Purple Ace to hit 56 or more threes in a single season since the 2007-08 campaign.
• Junior guard Kerri Gasper is third in the Valley, averaging 3.7 assists per game.
PLAY 4 KAY
Play 4Kay game efforts were started by the late Kay Yow, the former North Carolina State University Head Women's Basketball Coach. She was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1987 and fought the disease three times until her death in 2009. While courageously battling cancer, Coach Yow started the Kay Yow Cancer Fund which serves to raise money for scientific research and to assist the efforts to fight against women's cancers. To date, the fund has grown nationwide and contributed over $5.2 million to support cancer research.
Head Coach Gillespie spent a significant amount of time with the legendary Kay Yow as a player and as a coach. Gillespie was the starting point guard that guided the Wolfpack to a final four appearance, and was a part of Kay Yow's final coaching staff from 2007-2009.
Hannah Green
• This season she has been named MVC Player of the Week after she led the Redbirds averaging 18 points, 9.5 rebounds and 3.0 blocks per game.
• Hannah guided the Redbirds to a 2-0 finish at the Long Beach Tournament, earning Beach Classic All-tournament team.
• She currently leads the Valley averaging 2.1 blocks per game and is 3rd all-time in ISU history for career blocks.
• Green has been a key component to the Redbird's success and is top 10 in the Valley for scoring and rebounding.
• Green recorded 75 total blocked shots in her first year as a Redbird, which ranked 21st in the country and also led the MVC….47 of those were in league games, which is the most in single-season program history.
•She set program record for highest blocks per game average at (2.9) and recorded career high of eight blocks at Missouri State (1/20), which tied the program record for most blocks in a 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.
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