NORMAL, Ill. – For the first time in 19 days, Illinois State women's basketball (11-5, 5-1 MVC) returns home to CEFCU Arena as Missouri Valley play continues. The Redbirds welcome in Indiana State (7-8, 2-4 MVC) to Normal Friday with tipoff scheduled for 6:30 p.m.
Friday will be broadcasted on ESPN3 as Greg Halbleib provides the radio call for ISU fans, which can be found on the Varsity Network or WJBC 102.1 FM & 1230 AM.
Also, Illinois State will be hosting their annual Pack the Arena night Friday as well as a Black out where all ISU fans are encouraged to wear their best black ISU gear.
GAME INFORMATION
v. Indiana State (Game Notes)
When:Â Friday, Jan. 20
Tip-off:Â 6:30 p.m. CT
Location:Â Normal, Ill.
Facility:Â CEFCU Arena
Watch:Â ESPN3
Live Stats:Â StatBroadcast
Listen:Â WJBC 1230 AM /102.1 FM
LAST TIME OUT
In the highly anticipated matchup of the top two teams in the MVC preseason poll, it was the red-hot Redbirds (11-5, 5-1 MVC) making all the right moves. Thanks in part to stifling defense and resilient offense, ISU defeated Belmont (7-10, 3-3 MVC) by a final of 70-56 from the Curb Event Center Sunday (full recap).
The loss stands as Belmont's first conference home loss, making fellow newcomer Murray State, the last MVC team unblemished at home. Also, Sunday is the lone regular season meeting between the Bruins and Redbirds as the two will not meet again as part of the newly designed 20-game conference schedule.
Mary Crompton led the way for Illinois State as she finished with a game high 26 points, including 7-13 from behind the arc. The Iowa City native was joined in double figures by teammates DeAnna Wilson (14) and Kate Bullman (11).Â
Wilson led the 'Birds with 10 rebounds on the afternoon while both Bullman and Maya Wong dished out a team high four assists.Â
Belmont was led by 21 points from Destinee Wells, including 20 in the second half alone. Wells also contributed five assists, two steals, and three rebounds Sunday. Madison Bartley (15) and Kilyn McGuff (11) would be the other Bruins in double figures after 40 minutes. McGuff and Bartley also led the team with six rebounds apiece.Â
SCOUTING THEÂ SYCAMORES
After starting their 2022-23 Missouri Valley schedule with a 2-2 record, the Sycamores of Indiana State have dropped their last two conference games, as they currently sit 10th in the MVC with a record of 2-4. When traveling this season, Indiana State has gone 2-3 including road wins over MVC foes UIC and Valparaiso.
Thanks in part to their team efforts, the Sycamores come into Friday as the 5th best rebounding team in the Valley, averaging 37.8 boards a game, including 12.3 offensive rebounds per contest.
Indiana State is led by second-year head coach Chad Killinger, a man who has 25+ years of college coaching experience, including 18 seasons at the junior college level. In his debut season in Terre Haute, Indiana State won 11 games, a six-win improvement from the previous season. The Sycamores also won five conference games, their most as a program in three years, while also securing their first MVC Tournament win with an 89-75 victory over Evansville.
In their 11 wins last season, the Sycamores picked up their first win at Drake in nearly a decade, along with road conference wins at Valparaiso and Bradley and a non-conference win over Sun Belt's Georgia Southern. The 11 wins also saw Indiana State improve in nearly every statistical category under Killinger, including top-40 national rankings in steals and turnovers forced. The Sycamores saw Del'Janae Williams earn Honorable Mention All-MVC and MVC All-Defensive Team honors following the season, while Arianna Smith earned a spot on the All-Freshman team.
SERIES HISTORY WITH INDIANA STATE
Friday stands as the 103rd all-time meeting for the Redbirds and Sycamores. The Redbirds come into the game with a 57-54 series lead, including wins in the last seven overall meetings and four straight in Normal.
In the last meeting between the two sides last February, JuJu Redmond collected her sixth 20+ point performance of the season in a 72-64 victory, helping the Redbirds to their third straight win at Redbird Arena in the annual Play4Kay game.
Redmond finished with a game-high 25 points, adding seven rebounds, five assists, and two steals in 36 minutes of action. Mary Crompton went 3-for-8 from behind the arc and a perfect 6-for-6 from the charity stripe to finish with 17 points. DeAnna Wilson collected her sixth double-double of the season, recording 10 points and 11 rebounds.
The Sycamores were led by Natalia Lalic, who finished just shy of her career high with 18 points.
LEADING THE WAY
Illinois State and UNI lead the Valley race entering this week's action, sitting at 5-1 in league play. The Redbirds completed a four-game road trip with four straight wins, becoming the first team in league history to go unblemished over a four-game league road trip.
Murray State, Drake, and Missouri State each sit one game behind the leaders at 4-2.
MILESTONES TO WATCH
Head coach Kristen Gillespie sits with 98 wins at ISU, as she is looking to become the first ISU head coach to eclipse 100 career wins as a Redbird since current Missouri head coach Robin Pingeton, who finished her ISU career with a mark of 144-81 over seven seasons.
Graduate guard Mary Crompton has now started 98 games as a Redbird. As the season rolls on, Crompton sits only two starts away from becoming the ninth Redbird WBB athlete to have 100 career starts. The last Redbird to eclipse 100 career starts is former Redbird star, and now head coach at UIC, Ashleen Bracey.
CLIMBING IN THE MVC RANKS
Mary Crompton once again led the way for the Redbirds last Sunday in the road win over Belmont. The Iowa City native went for 26 points including 7-13 from three-point range, tying her career high set back in the season opener at Dayton on Nov. 10.
Thanks to her overall career efforts from deep, Crompton currently sits 13th overall in MVC career three-pointers made with 260.
|
NAME
|
3PT
|
YEARS
|
|
9. Makenzie Silvey, Southern Illinois
|
266
|
2017-22
|
|
10. Kelsey Luna, Indiana State
|
263
|
2006-10
|
|
11. Jaleshia Roberson, Missouri State
|
262
|
2008-12
|
|
12. Kelsey Woodard, Creighton
|
261
|
2007-11
|
|
13. Mary Crompton
|
260+
|
2018-pres.
|
GETTING OFF TO A HOT START
As Illinois State held Belmont to four points in the first quarter on Jan. 15, it marks the 32nd time since 2017-18 that ILS has held an opponent to single digit scoring in the first quarter. In the previous 32 instances, 19 have come against MVC opponents, including back-to-back games of last year's Hoops in the Heartland Tournament.
The four points allowed on Sunday were the fewest first quarter points allowed since last year's Hoops in the Heartland Quarterfinals against Loyola Chicago. Overall, when allowing single digits in the first quarter, ISU is 25-7 since 2017-18.
MAKING A VALLEY IMPACT
With a win on Friday, Illinois State will match its best seven-game start in Missouri Valley Conference play (6-1) since 2009-10.
In the last 13 seasons, the Redbirds have begun MVC play with a mark of 6-1 through seven games twice (2009-10; 2021-22). The most wins in MVC play for ISU before having two losses came during the 2009-10 season, when ISU would start 15-1.
RISING IN THE RECORD BOOKS
Junior forward Kate Bullman is slowly but surely moving her way up the all-time ranks in ISU history for career blocks. As the season is now in sole MVC focus, Bullman currently sits with 93 career blocks, good for sixth all-time.
The Grayslake native now sits two blocks from tying fifth place, which is held by the newest announced WBB Hall of Famer for ISU, Cathy Boswell who finished her illustrious career with 95 blocks.
MAKING THEMSELVES KNOWN
As they have done all season, the Redbirds see a trio of athletes making their mark across the top-100 in various statistical categories, in both DI WBB and the MVC (as of 1/19/23). Â
|
CATEGORY
|
VALUE
|
NCAA
|
MVC
|
|
Minutes (Paige)
|
35.3
|
47th
|
1st
|
|
PPG (Paige)
|
19.0
|
t-27th
|
2nd
|
|
3PT FG% (Mary)
|
.451
|
14th
|
1st
|
|
3PT/Game (Mary)
|
2.9
|
t-21st
|
1st
|
|
Free Throw Pct (Maya)
|
.938
|
4th
|
1st
|
PLAYING BOTH SIDES OF THE BALL
Thanks to their efforts thus far, ISU currently ranks top-100 in five categories (as of 1/19/23) across Division I WBB while being top five in the MVC for each category, respectively.
|
CATEGORY
|
VALUE
|
NCAA
|
MVC
|
|
3PT FG%
|
.368
|
17th
|
1st
|
|
Blocks Per Game
|
4.4
|
46th
|
3rd
|
|
Turnover Margin
|
2.56
|
91st
|
3rd
|
|
Free Throw Pct
|
.743
|
74th
|
2nd
|
|
3PT FG/Game
|
7.5
|
t-64th
|
5th
|
CALM, COOL, COLLECTED
So far this season, redshirt junior Maya Wong has cemented herself as one of the nation's best from the free-throw line.
As of 1/19/23, the Normal native is fourth nationally for free throw percentage.
|
NAME
|
FT-FTA
|
PCT
|
|
Brynna Maxwell, Gonzaga
|
51-52
|
98.1
|
|
Erin Houpt, Mercer
|
61-63
|
96.8
|
|
Hannah Simental, Northern Colo.
|
62-66
|
93.9
|
|
Maya Wong, ILS
|
45-48
|
93.8
|
|
Deja Williams, Cleveland State
|
48-52
|
92.3
|
REBOUND MACHINE
As part of Illinois State's hard-fought 59-56 win in Carbondale on January 7, junior Kate Bullman would set a new career-high in rebounds.
The Grayslake native grabbed 14 rebounds (9 defensive boards) against the Salukis to surpass her previous career high of 13, set versus Valparaiso on January 13, 2022.Â
SHOOTING IS KEY
When dissecting the win-loss total for Illinois State in 2022-23, the way the Redbirds shoot has been a valid indicator for the overall result.
In their 11 wins this season, Illinois State is shooting 43.2% from the field and 39.1% from three-point range. Meanwhile, in their five losses, the shooting drops to 34.4% from the field and 29.7% from three-point range.
ROAD WARRIORS
With wins over Missouri State and Southern Illinois on Jan. 5 and 7, it marked the first time since Feb. 2019 that the Redbirds won back-to-back games in Springfield and Carbondale.
In fact, the two wins saw the Lady Bears and Salukis drop consecutive games against an MVC opponent for the first time in that span as well.
GAINING NATIONAL RECOGNITION
Illinois State comes in as the highest ranked MVC program, thanks to another successful road trip, in the latest CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major top-25. The Redbirds (#14) are joined in the rankings by 2022-23 opponents Green Bay (#11), UNI (#15), and Drake (#20). Â
TIME AWAY FROM HOME
The four straight road victories for ILS across Missouri, Illinois, and Tennessee is the first time since the 2009-10 season that the Redbirds have won four straight road games in MVC play (UNI, Bradley, Evansville, Southern Illinois).
In the 2009-10 season, Illinois State ended up making it all the way to the WNIT semifinals before falling to California in front of 6,075 fans.
CASTING A WIDE NET (RANKING) FOR THE VALLEY
The NCAA NET Report (Jan. 16) has four Valley teams that rank in the top-100, including six of the 12 sitting in the top-130. Drake leads the way at no. 51 with UNI (70), Murray State (93), and Illinois State (96) rounding out the schools in the top-100. Belmont (109) and Missouri State (127) rank in the top 130.
Only seven other leagues have six or more teams in the top 130 of the NET (ACC, American, Big 12, Big East, Big Ten, MVC, Pac-12, and SEC).
|
TEAM
|
NET
|
|
Drake
|
51
|
|
UNI
|
70
|
|
Murray State
|
93
|
|
Illinois State
|
96
|
|
Belmont
|
109
|
|
Missouri State
|
127
|
|
UIC
|
198
|
|
Southern Illinois
|
215
|
|
Evansville
|
219
|
|
Indiana State
|
231
|
|
Valparaiso
|
275
|
|
Bradley
|
339
|
WELCOME TO THE 1K CLUB
With her three-pointer at 3:08 in the third quarter versus Drake (12/30/22), graduate student Mary Crompton officially joined ISU's 1,000-point club. This made the Iowa City native the 30th member and only the second player (Juliunn Redmond) to reach the milestone under head coach Kristen Gillespie.
As her career continues, Crompton currently sits in 28th all-time for ISU scoring leaders.Â
|
NAME
|
PTS
|
YEAR
|
|
25. Tami Baalke
|
1,105
|
1989-93
|
|
26. Shala Jackson
|
1,099
|
2007-11
|
|
27. Tammy Turner
|
1,077
|
1982-86
|
|
28. Mary Crompton
|
1,062+
|
2018-pres.
|
|
29. Valarie Trame
|
1,050
|
1994-98
|
|
30. Octavia Crump
|
1,000
|
2012-16
|
49 YEARS IN THE MAKING
As part of a record-breaking weekend in Vegas for the Redbirds, the Illinois State women's basketball program would match their best program start in 49 years after taking down the Louisiana Tech Lady Techsters on Nov. 26.
With the 70-53 victory, the Redbirds would sit at 5-0 to start the 2022-23 season. This matched the best program start in 49 years, when ISU would start the 1973-74 season with the same record.
BROKEN RECORDS
As part of the program's annual Education Day (huge shoutout to ISU Marketing's Danny Bugg and Lauren Henderson) on Dec. 6, 2022, the Redbirds saw a new home attendance record be set as 6,363 school children, staff, admin., and longtime Redbird fans piled into CEFCU to watch ISU take on UMSL.
Prior to Dec. 6, the previous record stood at 6,075 which was set during the 2010 WNIT when California paid Normal a visit.
WELCOME TO THE HALL OF FAME
Illinois State women's basketball legend Cathy Boswell was selected as one of five to be inducted as the 24th Women's Basketball Hall of Fame Induction Class this past Sunday morning. The members for the Class of 2023 are Cathy Boswell (Veteran Player), Donna Lopiano (Contributor), Lisa Mattingly (Official), Carolyn Peck (Coach), and Lindsey Whalen (Player).
Boswell (1979-83) was a two-time WBCA Kodak All-American and two-time Wade Trophy finalist during her time at ISU, finishing her collegiate career with 2,005 points and 1,054 rebounds. She led the Redbirds to 90 wins, an NCAA Tournament berth in 1983, a 15th-place finish in the AIAW National Tournament in 1981 and two WNIT bids (1980 and 1982). Boswell was a member of the 1984 women's Olympic gold medalist USA basketball team and competed internationally for 14 years, earning seven team most valuable player awards, one league MVP title, a player of the year award and five league championships.
The Class of 2023 will be inducted into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame, receiving their coveted Women's Basketball Hall of Fame Trophy and Baron Championship Induction Ring on April 29th, 2023, in Knoxville, Tennessee.
GONE BUT NEVER FORGOTTEN
On August 20, 2022, Illinois State women's basketball lost one of their own as former standout Simone Goods lost a courageous battle with cancer. Goods finished her time as a Redbird with 2019 All-MVC First Team honors as well as finishing in the program's top-25 for field goals made in a season (190), rebounds in a season (238), career free-throws (227), career blocks (51) and blocks in a season (33).
This season, ISU players and staff will don an "SG" patch on their jerseys and gameday attire to honor the life and legacy of Simone Goods as ISU is dedicating the 2022-23 season in her honor.
NEW FACES ALL AROUND
Throughout the 2022-23 season, seven of Illinois State's opponents (or possible opponents) will be under the direction of a first-year head coach. Four of the seven new faces will come during MVC play as Missouri State, Southern Illinois, Bradley, and UIC all made coaching hires during the offseason.
NEW NAME, SAME ARENA
Illinois State University and CEFCU have come to terms on a naming rights and sponsorship agreement valued at approximately $3.1 million over 10 years. The agreement, which will support the funding for ongoing and ever-evolving costs associated with the student-athlete experience, was initiated by LEARFIELD's Redbird Sports Properties, the University's athletics multimedia rightsholder. The former Redbird Arena will be known as CEFCU Arena – Home of the Redbirds, with the University's Board of Trustees approving the arena name change at its October 14 meeting. The CEFCU Arena naming rights and sponsorship agreement will continue to support funding of the Redbird Student-Athlete experience. Particularly in these ever-evolving times, funding is vital to maintaining and expanding upon the current NCAA, Division I student-athlete experience.
REDBIRDS SIGN FOUR TO NLI's
Earlier this season as part of National Signing Day, the Illinois State women's basketball program announced the signings of four high-level talent as part of 2022 National Signing Day. The 2023 recruiting class includes Brooke Coffey (St. Charles, Mo.), Shannon Dowell (O'Fallon, Ill.), Molly Lenz (Eden Prairie, Minn.), and Savannah McGowan (Minneapolis, Minn.).
Coffey, a 6-1 guard from St. Charles Mo., has led the Incarnate Word to 68 straight wins, including multiple state titles, as the program has now captured a total of 12 MO Class 6 Championships. Finally, Coffey will join former Redbirds Kayel Newland and Cameron Call as well as current ISU athlete, DeAnna Wilson, as athletes for ISU women's basketball under Kristen Gillespie to hail from the state of Missouri.
Dowell, a 5-10 guard from O'Fallon, Ill., comes from O'Fallon Township High where she was named First Team Southwestern All-Conference in 2021-22 along with Third Team All State for the IBCA following last year. Dowell has had the chance to learn from five-time IBCA Co-Coach of the Year in District 19 4A (Coach Knolhoff) and amassed 1,000 career points in her junior year as a Panther.
Lenz, a 5-8 guard from Eden Prairie, Minn., was awarded 2021-22 Lake Conference All-Conference and Minnesota Girls Basketball Association All-State Honorable Mention honors. As a junior, Lenz was selected as one of Eden Prairie's three Varsity captains. Lenz will join former Redbird Viria Livingston (from Minneapolis) and fellow signee Savannah McGowan as athletes to come from Minnesota and play for ISU under head coach Gillespie.
McGowan, a 6-2 forward from Minneapolis, Minn., amassed 1,000 career points during her junior season for the Armstrong High Falcons, gaining her All-State honorable mention honors. McGowans joins former Redbird Viria Livingston (also from Minneapolis) as athletes to come from Minnesota and play for ISU under head coach Gillespie.
SEASON TICKETS
Season tickets are available for the 2022-23 season. Follow this link to purchase your season tickets or contact the Athletics Ticket Office at (309) 438-8000 for more information. Tickets start at just $65 for general admission to the women's season.Â
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.
