NORMAL, Ill. – The Illinois State women's basketball team defeated Drake, 76-68, in the 11th annual Play4Kay game, held Friday inside Redbird Arena.
The Redbirds outscored the Bulldogs, 23-11, in the third quarter en route to snapping a 15-game losing streak against Drake, which began on March 8, 2014.
Redshirt sophomore Mary Crompton poured in 16 points (6-11 FG, 54.5%; 4-7 3 PT, 57.1%) for Illinois State (11-6 overall, 8-6 Missouri Valley Conference).
Senior Juliunn Redmond netted 12 points while junior Terrion Moore scored 10 points. Senior Paige Saylor, junior Lexy Koudelka, and sophomore DeAnna Wilson all scored nine points apiece.
Drake (12-9 overall, 10-4 MVC) was led by 16 points from Grace Berg.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Illinois State led, 15-13, after 10 minutes before going 8-for-14 (57.1%) from the floor in both the second and third quarters, building a 62-46 advantage after three periods.
The Redbirds held the Bulldogs without a point for a stretch of 5:10 going from the second quarter into the third period.
ISU regained its 16-point lead at 64-48 with 7:02 to play, but Drake tightened the contest, scoring the game's next 10 points.
Moore scored the next five points, pushing ISU's lead back out to 11 with 3:47 to play, but the Bulldogs cut the deficit to 69-64 with 2:37 remaining.
The Bulldogs elected to foul and put Saylor at the line with 1:28 to go, but Saylor knocked down four consecutive free throws down the stretch while sophomore DeAnna Wilson made a pair of her own to ice the game.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
- Illinois State improved to 8-3 in Play4Kay games.
- The Redbirds edged Drake on the glass, 33-32, led by Wilson's seven boards.
- Illinois State posted 10 steals, the fourth time it has had at least 10 steals in a game this season. Redmond had a season-high four steals while Moore recorded three.
- All nine Redbirds that played in today's contest recorded a made field goal within the first half.
- The 'Birds outscored the Bulldogs, 42-32, in the paint.
- Illinois State led for 32:07 of the game, including the final 21:39.
- Crompton recorded her fifth game with 4+ made three-pointers this season and the 10th of her career.
QUOTE FROM HEAD COACH KRISTEN GILLESPIE
On the win: "Really proud of our team. Last Saturday's game, that was a tough one. It took a couple days and I still don't know if I'm over it. We came back Monday and were really committed and on a mission. They [the team] knew this was going to be a big weekend. We just did everything we needed to do. Did we play perfectly? No. We missed some free throws, turnovers, missed some assignments – but we did enough and kept weathering their storms down the stretch."
UP NEXT
The 'Birds are scheduled for a rematch with Drake on Saturday at 4 p.m inside Redbird Arena. Seniors Paige Saylor and Juliunn Redmond will be honored as part of Senior Day festivities.
For all the latest on Illinois State women's basketball, stay tuned at GoRedbirds.com and follow the team at @RedbirdWBB (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram).
GoRedbirds.com and the Illinois State Redbirds App: Your sources for Illinois State tickets, Weisbecker Scholarship Fund gifts, multimedia, Redbird merchandise, photos and more.
