NORMAL, Ill. – After trailing 21-14 at the end of the first quarter, the Illinois State women's basketball team (12-9, 8-2 MVC) battled back to defeat Evansville (7-13, 1-8 MVC) in dominant fashion, 75-60, at Redbird Arena on Friday night.
The Redbirds used a balanced attack to overcome the Purple Aces, with four players finishing in double figures. Junior DeAnna Wilson was one board shy of a double-double, posting her sixth 15+ point performance in the last eight games with a team-high 19 points and nine rebounds. Fifth year Juliunn Redmond ended with 16 points and nine assists, collecting her third-straight game with at least seven assists.
Sophomore Kate Bullman continued to shine for ISU, tying the program's single-game block record with 8 blocked shots, also adding 14 points and six rebounds in 35 minutes on the court.
Redshirt junior Mary Crompton rounded out Illinois State's double-digit scorers, tallying 13 points while going 3-of-8 from behind the three-point line.
The Purple Aces were led by 16 points from Je'Naiya Davis while Normal-native Abby Feit added seven points and eight rebounds.
IN THE BOX SCORE
- Bullman is one of 21 players in NCAA Division I to have at least five games with 4+ blocks this season. With 56 career blocks, the sophomore currently sits just outside ISU's top-10 blocked shots career leaders at No. 11 on the list.
- Freshman Kenzie Bowers was ISU's leader on the boards, grabbing 11 rebounds off the bench, six of which came in the fourth quarter. ISU's last freshman to record 11 rebounds was Megan Talbot who had 12 rebounds in a 64-46 loss to Wisconsin in Dec. 2016.
- With Friday's win, the Redbirds have now won 10-straight over Evansville and have swept the Purple Aces in each of the last five seasons.
QUOTES FROM HEAD COACH KRISTEN GILLESPIE:
On the win: "I thought we started a bit slow, which has been an issue the last couple of weeks. But what I love, if you look at the stat sheet, is that we really shared the ball. 17 assists on 25 made shots. Sometimes I'd say we even made the extra pass even too much. But all-in-all just so many of our players made really positive impacts on this game."
On Wilson's growth this year: "D's tough because she can back you down, she can go back-to-the-basket, she can face you up… I think that's where we've seen the most growth, in finding different ways to score. She is so physical, and I thought we did a great job of feeding her tonight."
UP NEXT
The 'Birds wrap up their four-game home stand on Sunday afternoon, hosting Indiana State for the annual Play4Kay game at 2 p.m.
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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