NORMAL, Ill. – Graduate student Paige Robinson was unstoppable on Sunday as she led all scorers with 37 points, grabbing six boards in front of the hometown crowd as Illinois State took down Big 10 foe, Wisconsin, 62-57.
As the Redbirds improve to 3-0 on the 2022-23 season, Sunday marks the first time a Redbird program has defeated Wisconsin in Normal since 1985 when ISU won 64-57 in overtime. Overall, the five-point win for the Redbirds marks the first home win over a current Big Ten foe since 2012 when ISU handed Northwestern a 64-46 defeat.
Illinois State improves to 3-0 while the Badgers drop to 3-2 in 2022-23, suffering their first loss since Nov. 11 against Kansas State.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The night got started for ISU as the Redbirds responded early after letting Wisconsin score the opening basket as ISU and stormed out to an 11-0 run over two minutes of game action. After Paige Robinson made it 8-2 ISU with 7:12 in the first quarter, Wisconsin called a timeout in attempts to halt any Redbird momentum.
Once the action resumed, it was Wisconsin going on their own 13-0 run to take a four-point lead as the first quarter winded down. After the first 10 minutes of play, the action was as tight as expected, but ISU would lead 16-15 thanks to a floater from Robinson with five seconds left in the frame.
Then, in the second quarter, the scoring went back-and-forth from both sides as no team would lead by more than four until the final two minutes of the quarter. With 2:04 on the clock, Robinson netted a pull up jumper to make it 28-22 in favor of the home team. From there, ISU would hold Wisconsin scoreless while netting two more shots themselves to take a 33-22 lead into the halftime break.
At the break, Robinson led all scorers with 17 points, 12 of which came in the second quarter only. On the defensive side of the ball, Robinson also led the way with four rebounds as well.
The second half got underway, and ISU came out looking to maintain their lead going up by as many as 12 early on in the frame. After Wisconsin trimmed the lead to seven, Kate Bullman would put ISU up nine with a driving layup at the 7:34 mark in the third. At the third quarter media timeout, ISU would lead by eight (40-32) as they were looking to stifle up on defense and pull away from the Badgers. The Badgers would trim ISU's lead to six with 3:22 left, before it was back to double digits for the Redbirds thanks to Mary Crompton striking the bottom of the twine.
The third quarter saw ISU end with leads of up to 13, as Crompton gave ISU a 49-36 lead with a three with 30 seconds on the clock.
As the final quarter began, ISU led by 12 and were looking to pull away and close out the game. However, Wisconsin would not go away easily as they would fall behind by 17 with 8:30 left on the clock before calling timeout and regrouping. Out of the timeout, the lead was trimmed from 17 to 4 as the game headed to the final two and a half minutes.
As the home team only led by four points nearing two minutes on the clock, Robinson once more stepped up in a clutch moment, nailing her seventh and final three of the night with the shot clock winding down to give ISU a seven-point cushion heading into the final 120 seconds.
From there, the Badgers picked up the defensive intensity, forcing ISU to see their lead drop to only five. However, it was a back-and-forth free throw shooting contest from there as Kate Bullman nailed the final two at the charity stripe with eight seconds left to give ISU a seven-point lead. Wisconsin's Serah Williams would knock down a last second shot and give the final score its final five-point differential.
For Wisconsin, three players would finish in double digits, led by Serah Williams' 16 points. Meanwhile, Williams and Julie Pospisilova would tie for the team lead with eight rebounds on the night.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
- Robinson becomes the second Redbird this season to net seven three-pointers in a game, making it a six-way tie for second most in program history. Prior to tonight, the last Redbird to score seven three-pointers in a game was Mary Crompton in the 2022-23 season opener at Dayton.
- Robinson's 37 points marks the first time a Redbird has eclipsed that mark since JuJu Redmond did so against Valparaiso in February 2022. This also ties Robinson's overall career-high as she scored 37 points at Lindenwood (11/29/20) while at Drury.Â
- Paige is the first player since 2018 to score 37+ points and go perfect 7-7 from 3. Only the third player to do it since at least 2009-10 season (when they have data). No other player has gone 7-7 from three this year and no one has done better than that since 2018. (per Calvin Wetzel and Her Hoop Stats).Â
- Robinson's 37 points were second-most in all Division I women's basketball on Sunday, only trailing Villanova's Maddy Siegrist who totaled 41 points off 14-25 shooting. Robinson and Siegrist were two of nine DI women's basketball players with at least 30 points on Sunday, joined by DePaul's Darrione Rogers, North Dakota's Kacie Borowicz, Maryland's Diamond Miller, James Madison's Kiki Jefferson, Iowa State's Ashley Joens, UConn's Azzi Fudd, and Iowa's Cailtin Clark)
- Sunday allows Illinois State to start 3-0 in a season for the first time since 2020-21 when ISU would pick up wins over Saint Xavier, Western Illinois, and Omaha to begin that campaign.
- Crompton finished the night with three more three-pointers, moving her four away from tying Kristi Cirone's program record of 229.
- Jasmine McGinnis-Taylor played a huge role for ISU, compiling 15 minutes in place of DeAnna Wilson who went out with early foul trouble.
UP NEXT
ISU heads West for the UNLV Thanksgiving Classic from Nov. 25-27 as they will get things underway on Friday, Nov. 25 at 8:30 pm CT against UC San Diego.
For all 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:Â Â Your sources for Illinois State tickets, Weisbecker Scholarship Fund gifts, multimedia, Redbird merchandise, photos and more.
