NORMAL, Ill. -Â Illinois State Women's Basketball (7-3, 0-0 MVC) opens its MVC slate Saturday as the Redbirds close 2023 vs I-74 foe Bradley (4-7, 0-0 MVC) at 4 p.m. inside CEFCU Arena on the Redbird Sports Radio Network and ESPN+
SERIES HISTORY
Illinois State has dominated the I-74 rivalry with Bradley, leading the series by a 55-29 margin. The Redbirds have won the last six meetings over the Braves with four of those victories coming by double figures. It is Illinois State's third-longest active winning streak against MVC foes, behind streaks against Evansville (12) and Indiana State (9).
The Redbirds rolled by Bradley at CFECU Arena in the most recent meeting, picking up an 84-52 in February of last season. Illinois State secured its ninth straight win overall, and sixth straight over Bradley with the victory. Three Redbirds finished in double figures, led by Mary Crompton's game-high 17 points on a 5-of-7 mark from three-point range. DeAnna Wilson tallied her sixth double-double of the season with 13 points and 10 rebounds while Paige Robinson tallied 13 points of her own.
Illinois State jumped out to a 23-4 first- quarter lead and never looked back, with the Illinois State lead growing as high as 34 points in the dominant effort. The Redbirds shot 10-for-17 from deep (58.8%) as five different 'Birds connected from deep
The win came on the heels of a 60-50 January victory for Illinois State in Peoria. DeAnna Wilson notched her fourth double double of the 2022-23 season with 12 points and a season-high 13 rebounds as Illinois State pulled away from the Braves late. Paige Robinson tallied 15 points, including a 5-0 surge that sparked an 11-0 run for Illinois State to close the game.Â
LAST TIME OUT
Illinois State used a team effort to beat Saint Louis at CEFCU Arena last week, putting five players into double figures and securing an 87-81 win over the Billikens. Maya Wong led the Redbirds in scoring for the second straight game, pouring in a career-high 23 points on 5-for-9 shooting from behind the arc. She was 4-for-5 from deep in a 16-point first half.
DeAnna Wilson tallied her second consecutive double- double, scoring 17 points and grabbing 11 rebounds. Wilson put up 10 points and 7 rebounds in the second half. Shannon Dowell played a key role in the win down the stretch and finished with a career-high 13 points. Her three-point play in the fourth quarter put Illinois State back up six after the Billikens made a strong push. Kate Bullman and Abbie Aalsma also reached double-figures in the win. Bullman secured her second double-double of the year, finishing with 11 points and 10 rebounds while Aalsma put up a pair of key three pointers and finished with 10 points, her first double-figure scoring performance of the season.
The 'Birds struggled out of the gate as Saint Louis built a 21-14 lead in the first quarter. Wong's three at the 1:36 mark of the first sparked an 11-0 surge though and the Redbirds jumped in front of the Billikens in the second. Shannon Dowell's old-fashioned three-point play gave Illinois State the 25-21 advantage over Saint Louis. Saint Louis answered to tie the game at 27 before Illinois State jumped back ahead 39-33 at the 3-minute mark of the second quarter. Threes from Bullman and Wong bookended a 2-for-2 trip for Daijah Smith at the line to put Illinois State in front by six in the second. Illinois State took a 48-42 lead into the locker room.
Illinois State opened the second half with four straight points to grab their first double-figure lead of the game as buckets from Wilson and Caroline Waite gave Illinois State a 52-42 advantage. The Redbirds maintained the lead heading into the fourth, as Aalsma hit consecutive threes in less than a minute. She put Illinois State up 67-59 at the 8-minute mark of the quarter. The Billikens cut Illinois State's lead to five points in the closing moments, but the Redbirds held on for the win.
FRESHMAN OF THE WEEK
Shannon Dowell brought home the first MVC weekly award of her career, earning MVC Freshman of the Week honors as announced by the league office Wednesday morning. She is the first Redbird to earn an MVC Weekly honor this season and also first Redbird to ever win MVC Freshman of the Week, as the honor was introduced by the league office prior to the start of this season.
In addition, Dowell is the first Redbird not named Paige Robinson, who was tabbed MVC Player of the Week once and MVC Newcomer of the Week four times last season, to earn an MVC Weekly honor since March of 2022.
Dowell tallied her third game this season in double figures, and paired it with 4 rebounds, 3 assists and 1 steal against the Billikens. She also hit seven free throws, a best for her short career, going 7-for-8 at the line. Dowell played the final seven minutes in the game as Illinois State held off the Billikens. Her key three-point play at the 6:28 mark of the fourth quarter put Illinois State up 75-68 and swung the momentum back in favor of the Redbirds.Â
THE REDBIRD STATE
Illinois State will take on an in-state foe for the fourth time this season on Saturday. The Redbirds are riding a twelve-game winning streak over in-state foes, which includes a 9-0 mark over the last two seasons.
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 30-8 against in-state foes and 17-2 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.
MAYA IS MONEY
Maya Wong has become more of a scoring threat for the Redbirds this season and that has shown over the last two games. Wong has led Illinois State in scoring in back to back games for the first time as a Redbird. Coming into the season she had led the Redbirds in scoring just one time in her collegiate career.
She is averaging 19.0 points per game over the last two contests, including her career-high of 23 against the Billikens. Wong has reached double-figure scoring in seven games this season, which is well on pace to surpass her mark of 10 double-figure scoring games last year. After averaging 7.7 points per game last year, she has upped her per-game average to 13.8 points in the non-conference slate this year.
DEE'S DOUBLE DOUBLES
DeAnna Wilson has recorded double-doubles in back to back games for the first time this season and the sixth time in her Illinois State career. Her performance against Saint Louis was the 21st double- double of her Illinois State career, which tied Wilson with Redbird alum and UIC head coach Ashleen Bracy for fourth on the program career double-doubles list. She became just the fifth Redbird in program history to tally 20 career double-doubles with her performance of 10 points and 10 rebounds against Marquette.
Basketball Hall of Famer Cathy Boswell holds the program career double-doubles record with 48.Â
MAKING IT RAIN
The Redbirds were one of the nation's hottest-shooting teams in the 2023 non-conference slate. Illinois State ranks 7th in NCAA D1 and first in the Valley with a 40.1 percent mark from behind the three point line. Illinois State is averaging 8.3 three-pointers per game (44th in NCAA, 3rd in MVC). As of December 28, Illinois State is one of eight DI teams shooting north of 40 percent from three.
Interestingly, Illinois State ranks just 137th in NCAA DI and 6th in the Valley in three-pointers per game. (20.7)
The Redbirds recently tallied 10 threes in the win over Saint Louis, Illinois State's fourth game this season with 10-plus threes. Illinois State put up 11 threes against NC State, with all 15 of Illinois State's first-quarter points coming from behind the arc. 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 Brooke Coffey, Lauren Cohen and Shannon Dowell also connected. Illinois State opened the year hitting 10 threes against Omaha Nov. 6, led by Maya Wong's 4-for-5 mark from deep.
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