SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – The Illinois State women's basketball team (8-5, 2-1 MVC) held on to give Missouri State (7-5, 2-1 MVC) their first conference loss on the season, winning 67-63 on Thursday evening inside Great Southern Bank Arena.
The win in Springfield is significant as well, as it stands as career win number 200 for head coach Kristen Gillespie in her time as a college basketball head coach. Gillespie now has 95 career wins as a Redbird, while compiling 51 wins at Lewis University and 54 wins at Benedictine University in her two prior stops.
Graduate guard Paige Robinson once again led the way for the Redbirds, scoring a game-high 22 points while grabbing five rebounds and dishing out five assists as well. The Bethany, Ill native would be joined in double figures Thursday by Maya Wong, who finished the night with 16 points, four rebounds, and two assists of her own.
It would be Jasmine McGinnis-Taylor leading the team in rebounds Thursday, finishing with six rebounds over her 18 minutes of play.
Four Lady Bears would end the night in double figures, led by Kennedy Taylor's 18 points to go along with 14 rebounds. Taylor would see teammate Indya Green also finish the night with a double-double, as she gathered 12 points and 13 rebounds. The other Lady Bears in double figures would be Sydney Wilson (11 points) and Aniya Thomas (11 points).
Thursday night saw a total of three lead changes and only two tie scores, as the Lady Bears stormed back after ISU would lead 7-2 early in the first quarter. From there, the home team did not let up their lead until midway of the fourth quarter.
Despite trailing for most of the game, Illinois State never saw a double-digit deficit against the Lady Bears as the largest lead for Missouri State would be nine points at 7:55 in the second quarter. The Lady Bears would hold an eight-point lead at half, thanks in part to a buzzer-beating three from Paige Rocca.
TURNING POINT
However, in the second half, the teams could not fully separate themselves until the fourth quarter when ISU grabbed its first lead of the game since the 5:48 mark of the first quarter. Despite being in foul trouble for the first half and third quarter, senior DeAnna Wilson stepped up huge and gave ISU a one-point lead with 4:21 left in the game.
The teams would see the score remain the same for the next three minutes of game play, until Maya Wong stepped up in a huge way with 1:06 left to knock down a three and giving ISU the 59-55 lead. The lead for the Redbirds would grow out to as many as six on two occasions before the Lady Bears fought their way back and trimmed the lead to two.
However, as she's done all her career, Wong stepped up to the free-throw line and knocked down a pair of shots to secure the four-point victory and give ISU its second conference win in 2022-23.
IN THE BOX SCORE:
- Illinois State held five blocks Thursday evening, making it the second MVC game for ISU to have at least five blocks (12/30/22 v. Drake).
- Missouri State's 50 rebounds Thursday marks the first time an ISU opponent has grabbed 50 rebounds since the season opener at Dayton on Nov. 10.
- The Redbirds shot 44.6% from the field while the Lady Bears finished with a mark of 36.6% on the afternoon.
- The Redbirds shot an impressive 13-17 from the free-throw line while Missouri State was held to a mark of 4-14 Thursday.
INDIVIDUAL NOTES
- Kate Bullman
- With a block on Thursday, the Grayslake native moves her career total to 91 career blocks; only four behind Cathy Boswell for fifth-all time with 95.
- Maya Wong
- Scored a new season-high 16; previous season high in points was 15 on Sunday against UNI
- One point away from tying her career-high of 17, set on 1/29/22 v. Drake.
- Paige Robinson
- Scored in double figures for the 12th consecutive game, only scoring in single figures (9 points) in the season opener at Dayton.
UP NEXT
The 'Birds continue MVC action as they travel to Carbondale, Illinois for a meeting with the Southern Illinois Salukis Saturday. Tipoff from the Banterra Center starts at 2:00 p.m. Saturday as the game will be an ESPN3 broadcast.
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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