NORMAL, Ill. – The Illinois State women's basketball team (15-13, 11-6 MVC) is set to take the court one last time in the regular season, traveling to Peoria to face the Bradley Braves (4-22, 1-16 MVC) on Saturday afternoon.
Tip-off at Renaissance Coliseum is set for 2 p.m. CT and the game will be streamed on ESPN+.
GAME INFORMATION
at Bradley
When: Saturday, March 5
Tip-off: 2 p.m. CT
Location: Peoria, Ill.
Facility: Renaissance Coliseum
Watch: ESPN+
Listen: WJBC 1230 AM/102.1 FM
HOOPS IN THE HEARTLAND
The Redbirds have secured the four-seed heading into next week's MVC Tournament, receiving a first round bye and taking on the fifth seed on Friday, March 11 at 2:30 p.m. CT. ISU awaits the results of Saturday's games to determine if they will face Loyola Chicago or Drake as their opponent.
PRESEASON PREDICTION
The 'Birds will finish fourth in the league standings, the same spot they were predicted to in this year's MVC preseason poll. ISU has now matched or exceeded its preseason prediction in all five seasons under head coach Kristen Gillespie.
TOP-25 SCORER
Juliunn Redmond officially joined ISU's 1,000-point club last month, making her the 29th member and the first player under head coach Kristen Gillespie to reach the milestone. After 29 points in Sunday's game at UNI, Redmond is currently ranked 24th among ISU's all-time scoring leaders and joins former Redbirds Kristi Cirone, Cathy Boswell and Cindy Kaufmann as the only players to score 1,100 points through three seasons.
SCOUTING THE BRAVES
After fifth year guard Gabi Haack had a season-ending injury to begin conference play, freshman Caroline Waite has stepped up to lead the Braves in scoring, averaging 13.3 points per game.
Junior Sierra Morrow is BU's leader on the boards, grabbing 5.4 rebounds per game while senior Tatum Koenig dishes out 3.6 assist per contest.
Bradley is coming off an 0-2 weekend at UNI and Drake as well, falling 77-56 to the Panthers on Friday before rallying to nearly beat the Bulldogs in 77-71 loss at Drake on Sunday afternoon.
ISU leads the all-time series with Bradley, 52-29, and have a 21-17 advantage when playing in Peoria. The Redbirds enter Saturday's game with a three-game winning streak in the series, having won in their earlier match up this season to begin conference play.
LAST MEETING
Playing with nine available players, the short-handed Illinois State women's basketball team got the win over Bradley to open MVC play, 64-57, at Redbird Arena on New Year's Day.
Five Redbirds finished with double-digit scoring, led by redshirt junior Mary Crompton who had a team-high 15 points. Joining her in double figures was senior Kayel Newland (12) and sophomores Kate Bullman (12), Jasmine McGinnis-Taylor (12) and Maya Wong (11). McGinnis-Taylor and Bullman flirted with double-doubles, pulling down eight and seven boards, respectively.
Bradley's Gabi Haack led the Braves with 16 points and four rebounds, prior to exiting early due to injury.
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: Your sources for Illinois State tickets, Weisbecker Scholarship Fund gifts, multimedia, Redbird merchandise, photos and more.
