MOLINE, Ill. – The Illinois State women's basketball team (18-13, 12-6 MVC) held Missouri Valley Conference regular season champions Southern Illinois (21-9, 15-3 MVC) to just 25.6% (11-of-43) shooting from the field through the first three quarters, defeating the Salukis, 50-42, on Saturday in the semifinals of the Hoops in the Heartland MVC Tournament.
Fifth year Juliunn Redmond led all scorers with 18 points, adding four assists and four steals. Junior forward DeAnna Wilson recorded a double-double for the third-straight game, putting up 12 points and 10 rebounds. Sophomore forward Kate Bullman had a game-high 11 boards, along with four points and two blocks.
With the victory, Illinois State advances to tomorrow's championship and will play for the league title and the Valley's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament versus third-seeded UNI at 1 p.m. CT. The 2022 tournament finale will be broadcasted on ESPNU, making conference history as the first to air on linear television since the 2014 event, when the title game was aired on FOX Sports Midwest-Indiana-Kansas City and NBC Sports Chicago.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Junior forward DeAnna Wilson was responsible for Illinois State's first three field goals, putting ISU up 7-4 early, before fifth year Juliunn Redmond scored ISU's last six points to end the first quarter up, 13-6.
The Redbirds continued to add to their early lead, building up to an 18-8 advantage after Mary Crompton's triple with 2:37 left in the half. The Salukis bounced back with a 7-2 spurt to close within 20-15 at the end of the half.
SIU caught up to the 'Birds in the first three minutes of the second half with a 9-2 run to take a 24-22 lead with 7:06 left on Laniah Randle's jumper in the lane. But Maya Wong and Kate Bullman layups started a 13-0 Redbird run in the final 7:06, punctuated by Wong free throws with 11 seconds remaining in the period, to end the third with an 11-point, 35-24 lead.
Wilson's layup extended the Redbird run to 15-0 and they held SIU scoreless for 8:12 in the final period, holding off a late Saluki rally and never letting the lead slip.
IN THE BOX SCORE
- ISU has held their opponents to under 20 points in the first half in back-to-back games now. Loyola Chicago only scored 18 first half points in yesterday's victory with Southern Illinois limited to just 15 in today's game.
- With her 18 points, Redmond has now finished in double figures in 24-of-30 contests this season and has led ISU in scoring in a team-best 18 games this year.
- Wilson recorded her ninth double-double of the year and 11th in her career with her 12 points and 10 rebounds.
- This will be ISU's ninth appearance in the MVC championship game, of which they've won four titles (1983, 1987, 2005 and 2008).
QUOTES FROM HEAD COACH KRISTEN GILLESPIE
On ISU's success this weekend: "Our message this whole weekend was just to stay in the moment. We had a really short memory whether it was good or bad. It was always 'what's the next play' and 'what's the next task at hand.' We just need to keep living in that moment. I love how we are playing."
On her team: "This team just continues to ste up and fight for one another and that's a team you want to coach."
UP NEXT
The 'Birds take on third-seeded UNI on Sunday at 1 p.m. CT in the MVC Championship game.
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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