NORMAL, Ill. – The Illinois State women's basketball team defeated SIUE, 74-53, on Monday afternoon, in front of a crowd of 1,835 students and fans at Redbird Arena for Education Day. The Redbirds remain undefeated (5-0) at home during the 2019-20 season.
Fifth-year senior Lexi Wallen led the 'Birds with a game-high 19 points with Mary Crompton and Paige Saylor adding 16 and 13 points, respectively. Wallen and freshman McKenna Sims collected a team-high five rebounds each.
The Redbirds improve to 7-2 in non-conference play, while the Cougars drop to 2-7.
HOW IT HAPPENED
After SIUE's Bria Stallworth scored the first points of the game off a jumper, Illinois State took the lead for good behind a Crompton 3-pointer and Saylor lay-up, putting the 'Birds up 5-2. ISU would go on an 11-3 run to finish the first quarter with a 19-9 lead.
The Redbirds maintained a double-digit lead for the remainder of the game, building it to as large as 23 points with a little under two minutes to go in the contest.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
- Crompton tallied a career-best 16 points and five assists, while also playing an all-time high of 33 minutes. The redshirt freshman was 5-of-7 (71.4%) from behind the arc in her third start of the year.
- ISU has had at least two players in double figures in eight of nine games this season. Today was the third game of the 2019-20 campaign that featured three or more Redbirds in double-digit scoring.
- The Redbirds' recorded a season-high eight 3-pointers in the win over SIUE. Crompton contributed five, with sophomore Kayel Newland tallying two and Sims adding one of her own.
- The 'Birds shot 42.0% from the floor, scoring 30 points in the paint and 17 points off of turnovers.
QUOTES FROM COACH KRISTEN GILLESPIE
On the win: "I'm really proud of the team effort. We knew in this game that it was going to take us a little time to find our footing with TeTe being out. TeTe plays 35+ minutes a game at the point guard position and it took us a bit before we settled down into our offense in the second half. Happy to see all the different players who stepped up for us today."
On how TeTe's injury affects the team: "As a staff, we are approaching this as an opportunity for our team to get better. We know TeTe is coming back, which is great, but what a great opportunity these next couple weeks for some other players to broaden their roles. We had some really equal minutes being played out there today and it's just going to make us better come February and March that our younger players are able to get some really good experience to build their confidence."
UP NEXT
ISU continues their homestand, hosting Jackson State on Thursday at 11 a.m. for another Education Day at Redbird Arena.
For all latest on Illinois State women's basketball, stay tuned at GoRedbirds.com and follow the team at @RedbirdWBB (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram).
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