NORMAL, Ill. -Â Red-hot Illinois State Women's basketball (5-1, 0-0 MVC) closes the month of November inside CEFCU Arena as the Redbirds host Chicago State (0-11) at 6:30 p.m. on the Redbird Sports Radio Network and ESPN+.
SERIES HISTORY
Illinois State leads the series history by a 3-0 margin, including a 2-0 mark at CEFCU Arena.
The two sides have not met since 2015, when Illinois State won 57-53 in Normal. Three Redbirds finished that game in double digits, as Octavia Crump led the way with a season-high 21 points on 9-of-12 shooting from the field. Shakeela Fowler and Taylor Stewart each finished with 12 points apiece. Crump scored 10 points in the second quarter and led the Redbirds into the break with a 23-16 advantage. The Redbirds started the second half with a 5-0 run, giving ISU its largest lead of the game, 28-16. The Redbirds shot 60 percent (6-of-10) in the third quarter and took a 41-33 lead into the final period. Crump scored four-straight points for the Redbirds to extend the ISU lead to 50-39 with 4:43 to play. Chicago State answered with an 8-0 run to cut the lead to 50-47 but ISU held off the Cougars to secure the 57-53 victory.
LAST TIME OUT
Illinois State held Saint Mary's to just 18 points in the second half as the Redbirds took down the Gaels 62-51 to close out the 2023 Saint Mary's Thanksgiving Classic and win their fourth straight game last week. DeAnna Wilson led Illinois State with a game-high 18 points. She also finished with 6 rebounds and 2 steals in the win. Wilson scored 10 points in the first half Saturday and notched her third performance this season with 15-plus points. Wilson was Illinois State's only double-figure scorer in the game, but eight other Redbirds also scored in the contest. Caroline Waite went 3-for-6 from behind the arc to finish with 9 points. Maya Wong also tallied 9 points and Abbie Aalsma put up 8 points and 6 rebounds.
It was a back-and-forth affair in a first half that saw three lead changes. Illinois State ended the first half on an 8-4 run and headed to the locker room knotted at 33. The Redbirds led for all but 17 seconds of the first quarter, building as much as a 17-11 advantage off a Molly Lenz fastbreak layup with 2:38 to go in the opening frame. Saint Mary's jumped out 29-25 in the second quarter, but the 8-4 scoring run from Illinois State tied it at half. Brooke Coffey canned a three and completed an old-fashioned three-point play to score six of Illinois State's last eight in the second half. The Redbirds began to take control with a strong second half performance. Illinois State opened on
a 12-4 run, highlighted by four points from Aalsma to kickstart the surge. Threes from Wong and Waite made it a 48-39 lead for Illinois State before Savannah McGowan's second-chance bucket stretched the advantage to 50-39 heading into the fourth. The run continued into the fourth quarter as Illinois State built a 55-41 lead. Saint Mary's trimmed the lead back to single digits, but the Redbirds were able to hang on for the win.
WAITE'S WORLD
Waite has made a splash in her short time with the Redbirds.
Her hot shooting helped lead Illinois State to a pair of wins at the Saint Mary's Thanksgiving Classic last week. In California she started both games for Illinois State, averaging 12.5 points across the two games with a 7-for-14 mark from three. She opened with 16 points in an 87-63 win over UT Arlington on Friday. Waite hit four-plus threes for the third straight game, going 4-for-8 from behind the arc. In a win over host Saint Mary's on Saturday Waite shot 3-for-6 from deep to finish with 9 points in her fourth straight performance with three-plus threes.
Waite has scored 15-plus points in four of Illinois State's five wins this year. She has hit 3-plus three pointers in each of the Redbird wins this year and has done so in four straight games. She ranks first in the league with 3.3 three pointers per game, a mark that sits 11th in NCAA D1 this year She is shooting 48.8 percent from behind the arc this year, which leads the Valley and ranks 29th in NCAA D1.
THE REDBIRD STATE
Illinois State will take on an in-state foe for the third time this season on Thursday. The Redbirds are riding an eleven-game winning streak over in-state foes, which includes a 6-0 mark from last season.
Illinois State's last loss to an in-state foe came Feb. 20 of 2022 to Southern Illinois, 49-65, at CEFCU Arena. Since the start of the 2019-2020 campaign, the Redbirds are 29-8 against in-state foes and 16-2 vs in-state foes inside CEFCU Arena. Illinois State has won 6-plus games over in-state foes in each of the last four seasons.
MAKING IT RAIN
The Redbirds are one of the nation's hottest-shooting teams through the early goings of the season. Illinois State ranks fourth in NCAA D1 and first in the Valley with a 42.4 percent mark from behind the three point line. Illinois State is averaging 8.3 three-pointers per game (44th in NCAA, 2nd in MVC).
Interestingly, Illinois State ranks just 171st and 7th in the Valley in three-pointers per game.
The Redbirds hit a season-high 12 threes in the win over Saint Francis, led by Waite (5) and Aalsma (3) who each hit three-plus in the game. Five different Redbirds hit from deep as Coffey, Cohen and Dowell also connected. It was the second time this year the Redbirds have hit 10-plus threes, joining the season opener at Omaha (10).
MAYA'S MONEY
Illinois State's career-free throw percentage leader Maya Wong is out to another hot start at the free throw line this year.
In the win over UT Arlington Wong hit 11 free throws (11-for-14), marking the first double-figure free throw performance of her college career. All but four of her 15 points came at the free throw line. Wong has hit 8-plus free throws in three games on the young season, surpassing her career-high in each of those outings. (8 at Green Bay, 9 vs SIUE, 11 vs UT Arlington). She opened the year ranked 24th in program history with 194 free throws, but has climbed to 14th with 229 free throws as a Redbird.
At her current rate of approximately five free throws per game, Wong is on pace to finish with around 180 free throws made this season. That mark would break Katie Donovan's single-season program record of 169 from the 2003-2004 campaign. She has hit 35 free throws this year, a mark that ranks second in the MVC and 20th in NCAA DI.
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