CHICAGO – Sophomore DeAnna Wilson paced the Illinois State women's basketball team with 14 points and five rebounds en route to a 64-61 victory at Loyola Chicago on Friday afternoon. With the win, the Redbirds (14-6, 11-6 MVC) have now won four-straight with only one game remaining in the regular season.
Redshirt freshman Maya Wong finished with 13 points off the bench, going 6-of-8 (75.0%) from the floor. Junior Terrion Moore added 11 points and a career-high seven steals.
Ellie Rice led the Ramblers (10-11, 8-9 MVC) with 13 points and six rebounds.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Loyola got out to a quick 5-0 start before senior Juliunn Redmond put the 'Birds on the board with a layup at the 7:40 mark. The Redbirds battled from behind, connecting on three unanswered triples by Moore, Wong and Mary Crompton to put ISU ahead at the end of the period, 21-19.
Illinois State's offense went cold in the second quarter, only scoring four points through the first 8:30 to allow Loyola to jump out to its largest lead of the game, 35-25, before senior Paige Saylor went on a 6-0 run, converting on three consecutive layups to pull the 'Birds within four at the half, 35-31.
Wilson provided the offensive spark the Redbirds needed in the second half, scoring all of her team-leading 14 points in the last two periods. A strong defensive stand from Illinois State in the fourth quarter secured the victory, as ISU limited the hot-shooting Ramblers to 4-of-12 (33.3%) field goals in that period after Loyola had shot 56.8% (21-of-37) the three periods prior.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
- Today's match-up was the only time this season in Missouri Valley Conference play that both teams have shot over 50.0% from the floor. It was also the second-straight game that ISU has recorded at least 50.0% shooting and the team's fourth time on the year.
- Moore's career-high seven steals are the most recorded in a game by a Redbird since Saylor had seven in a 64-53 win versus Kansas City on Nov. 26, 2017.
- Today's victory was ISU's first win on the road at Loyola since Jan. 2014.
- Illinois State outscored the Ramblers, 42-26 in points in the paint.
- The Redbirds capitalized with 33 points off of Loyola's 24 turnovers.
- ISU has now collected at least 11 wins in conference play in the last three seasons under head coach Kristen Gillespie.
QUOTES FROM HEAD COACH KRISTEN GILLESPIE:
On the opponent: "We've got to give Loyola a ton of credit. They played outstanding and shot the ball really, really well."
On ISU's offense: "I thought it was a really well-balanced attack. Maya Wong played really well for us and provided a great spark off the bench. We traditionally haven't played well here [at Gentile Arena] but we finally got the monkey off our back and it's a great feeling."
UP NEXT:
The Redbirds rematch with the Ramblers tomorrow at 3 p.m. CT at Gentile Arena. The game has been moved to ESPN3 (had previously been scheduled for ESPN+).
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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