CEDAR FALLS, Iowa – Fifth year Juliunn Redmond continued her torrid scoring pace, finishing with 29 points as the Illinois State women's basketball team (15-13, 11-6 MVC) dropped its weekend finale at UNI (18-9, 11-5 MVC) on Sunday, 70-63.
Redmond, who leads the Missouri Valley Conference in scoring with 18.6 points per league game, had a game-high 29 points while shooting 47.6% (10-of-21) from the floor and 81.8% (9-of-11) from the free throw line. Junior forward Deanna Wilson joined her in double figures, ending with 18 points and five rebounds.
The Panthers were fittingly led by senior Bre Gunnels on their Senior Day, who had 19 points and six boards. UNI moves into third in the conference standings with the win, putting the Redbirds in fourth a half game back.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Redbirds jumped out to an early lead courtesy of Wilson who scored 10 of her 18 points in the first quarter to put the 'Birds up six, 19-13.
After a Redmond lay-up to begin the second quarter, the Panthers responded with a 9-0 run to take their first lead of the day, 22-21. A back-and-forth battle ensued ending with a 32-32 tie heading into halftime.
The Panthers took over in the third quarter, limiting ISU to just three field goals and outscoring them, 23-15, in that stretch. Gunnels had nine points in the third period, also going 2-of-3 from behind the arc.
UNI would lead the remainder of the game, building up to a 12-point lead three minutes into the fourth quarter to hold off ISU's late surge that brough the Redbirds within five with 31 seconds left.
IN THE BOX SCORE
- With her 29 points, Redmond joined former Redbirds Kristi Cirone, Cathy Boswell and Cindy Kaufmann as the only ISU players to score 1,100 points in three seasons. Redmond now ranks 24th all-time in scoring with 1,118 career points.
- Sophomore Kate Bullman was Illinois State's leader on the boards, grabbing seven rebounds while also posting her seventh 3+ block game of the season. Bullman leads the Valley with 44 blocks during conference play to average 2.6 per game.
- The Panthers completed the season sweep of the Redbirds with the victory and improves to a four-game winning streak in the series.
QUOTE FROM HEAD COACH KRISTEN GILLESPIE
On ISU's performance: "I'm really proud of our players and how we responded after Friday. We talked about this, how we wanted to leave it all out there and I thought we did today. I think our actions and the way we responded will pay off dividends over the next two weeks."
UP NEXT
The Redbirds finish out the regular season on Saturday at I-74 rival Bradley. Tip-off at Renaissance Coliseum is set for 2 p.m. CT.
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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