TERRE HAUTE, Ind. – The Illinois State women's basketball team shot an impressive 70.8% (17-of-24) from the floor in the second half to secure a 74-60 conference road win over Indiana State on Thursday night at the Hulman Center. The Redbirds improve to 4-2 (1-2 MVC) while the Sycamores drop to 4-4 (1-2) on the season.
Senior Juliunn Redmond collected a team-high 18 points, shooting 87.5% (7-of-8) from the field and going 3-of-3 from deep, while also adding four rebounds and three assists. Redshirt sophomore Mary Crompton shot 50% (4-of-8) from behind the arc to finish with 14 points while senior Paige Saylor went a perfect 5-of-5 from the floor and 3-of-4 from the free throw line to end with a season-high 13 points.
Rounding out the double-digit scorers was redshirt freshman Maya Wong, who tallied 10 points while sharing the team-high of five boards with junior Terrion Moore.
Sycamore senior Jamyra McChristine led Indiana State with game-highs of 19 points and seven rebounds.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Redbirds got off to a slow start, scoring only six points in the first quarter on 14.3% (2-of-14) shooting. Despite this, Illinois State only trailed 9-6 at the end of the period, with Moore converting four of ISU's six points, including the first points of the game.
The 'Birds picked up the pace in the second quarter to shoot 64.3% (9-of-14) from the floor and carried a four-point, 27-23 lead into halftime. All three of Crompton's treys came in the second quarter.
The Trees began the third quarter with a 13-5 run before ISU's offense began firing on all cylinders, shooting 71.4% (10-of-14) and 70% (7-of-10) from the field in the final two quarters to earn its first Valley win of the year.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
- ISU's six points in the first quarter were the fewest scored in a quarter since Jan. 19, 2020 when the Redbirds were held to only four points in the first quarter at Loyola Chicago.
- With the win, the Redbirds extended their winning streak over the Sycamores to four-consecutive games and leads the all-time series, 54-45.
- 16 of Redmond's 18 points came in the second half, with 10 coming in the third quarter.
- Crompton has finished in double figures in five of six games this year and is averaging a league-high 3.2 triples per contest.
QUOTES FROM HEAD COACH KRISTEN GILLESPIE
On the win: "I am never going to complain about a road, conference win, but we have got to shore up our turnovers and our free throw shooting… I just thought we started a little sluggish – we did find our legs; we got into a little bit of a rhythm, but we just have to value possessions and we have to make free throws."
On hot shooting, strong offensive balance: "I love our balanced scoring.. that is such a positive and that continues to be something that we hang our hats on at any given time. I thought JuJu started really slow and picked it up in the second half. Mary hit some big threes."
UP NEXT
The Redbirds rematch the Sycamores tomorrow in the second game of the road series at the Hulman Center at 5 p.m. CT. The game will once again be streamed on ESPN3.
For all the 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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