NORMAL, Ill. – The Illinois State women's basketball team takes to the road this weekend to face the Southern Illinois Salukis on Friday.
GAME INFORMATION
Illinois State Redbirds (10-12, 4-7) at Southern Illinois (12-10, 7-4)
When: Friday, February 8 at Southern Illinois
Tip-Off: 6 p.m. CT
THE SERIES
• The Redbirds hold a 56-43 record over the Salukis and are 30-22 at home, 22-21 at SIU and 4-0 at a neutral site.
• The teams most recently met on Jan. 14, 2018 in Redbird Arena and the Birds captured their first MVC victory under the direction of first year head coach Kristen Gillespie.
• This is second time Coach Gillespie and Coach Stein will meet, Gillespie owns a 1-0 record over Stein.
REDBIRD BITS
• The Redbirds lead the MVC are ranked sixth in the country for field goal percentage defense, holding their opponents to an average of 34.4 percent. They are also first in conference and tabbed sixth in scoring defense in the nation, allowing 54.4 points per game.
• The last time the Birds faced the Salukis, they held them to 19.7 points fewer than their season scoring average. Â
• Viria Livingston and Megan Talbot each captured their first career double-double this season during MVC play.
• Freshman point guard Paige Saylor continues to lead the conference in steals per game with 2.6 and Hannah Green leads the MVC in blocked shots, averaging 2.0.
• Green, Goods and Katrina Beck have each had noteworthy performances this season, earning them MVC Player of the Week Honors.
• Megan Talbot, Green and Livingston are all in the top ten of the MVC for rebounding.
• Green has been the leading scorer for the Redbirds and is marked sixth in the conference, averaging 12.7 points per game.
 SCOUTING THE SALUKIS
• The Salukis faced Northern Iowa and Drake last weekend and suffered two losses. The team currently sits third in the conference with a 7-4 conference record. Â
• The Salukis rank in the top-3 of the Missouri Valley Conference in both steals and blocked shots, as Southern is currently second in blocks and third in steals.
• Southern took Missouri State into overtime and captured a 71-69 victory on Friday, Jan. 26. In this game, they secured a season-high of 52 rebounds, which was the most since 2014.
• Nicole Martin leads for the Salukis, averaging 12.3 points per game. She ranks seventh in the conference behind Hannah Green.
• Kylie Giebelhausen made her 400th career field goal against Drake on Jan. 7 and became the 23rd Saluki to make at least 400 career field goals in a career. She currently averages 11.7 points per game and 5.7 rebounds.
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. Â 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).
NEXT UP
The Redbirds travel to Missouri State on Sunday with tip-off time at 2 p.m.
GoRedbirds.com: Your online source for Illinois State Athletics tickets, Weisbecker Scholarship Fund gifts, multimedia, Redbird merchandise, photos and more.
