Skip To Main Content
Skip To Main Content

Illinois State University Athletics

Maya Wong at UNI
Brian White, ISU Athletics

Women's Basketball Brian White

Battle with Bulldogs Awaits Redbirds Saturday

DES MOINES, Iowa – Fresh off a pivotal win over Northern Iowa on Thursday, Illinois State women's basketball wraps up their time in Iowa as they face the Drake Bulldogs Saturday. Tip-off between the Redbirds and Bulldogs is scheduled for 2:00 p.m. at the Knapp Center in Des Moines.

For fans unable to make the trip, the game will be on ESPN3 while Greg Halbleib will be on the radio call for the 'Birds, found on the Varsity Network or WJBC 93.7 FM.

GAME INFORMATION

at Drake (Game Notes)
When: Saturday, Feb. 18
Tip-off: 2:00 p.m. CT
Location: Des Moines, Iowa
Facility: Knapp Center
Watch: ESPN3
Live Stats: Sidearm Stats
Listen: WJBC 93.7 FM

LAST TIME OUT

 In a battle of the top two teams in the Missouri Valley, entering Thursday night, it was the Illinois State Redbirds clinching the 72-70 win over the UNI Panthers from the McLeod Center.

The win was significant for many reasons, but none more so than it now places ISU in sole possession of first place in the Missouri Valley standings as the regular season continues.

ISU's win also stands as their 13th regular season MVC win this season, the program's highest under head coach Kristen Gillespie and most for an ISU program since 2013. Finally, the win allows Illinois State to move to 7-0 in MVC road games, and now have eight road wins overall, this season.  

The night would also be highlighted by the shooting of graduate student Paige Robinson for ISU, who finished with a game-high 26 points off 9-of-17 shooting. The Bethany native saw both Kate Bullman (13) and Maya Wong (12) finish the night in double figures.

For Northern Iowa, Maya McDermott and Grace Boffeli paced their efforts as McDermott finished with a team-high 17 points while Boffeli captured a double-double with 16 points and 10 rebounds.

With the win, Illinois State moves to 19-6 overall and 13-2 in Valley play while UNI is now 17-7 overall and 12-3 in Valley play.

SCOUTING THE BULLDOGS

Drake remains one of the top five MVC teams in 2022-23, as they currently sit at 10-5 in conference play ahead of Saturday. Maggie Bair leads the way for the program, averaging 15.7 points per game and 8.3 rebounds per game this season.

Drake also stands third in the NCAA for assists per game with a mark of 20.6 per game. The Bulldogs hold a 10.4 rebounding margin this season, which is sufficient for 2nd in the Valley behind Missouri State.

In her second season on the Drake sidelines is Allison Pohlman. Despite only being the head coach for two years, Pohlman has been a member of the Drake staff since 2007 and was elevated to associate head coach in 2014 by then-head coach Jennie Baranczyk.

In her 14 years on the Drake campus, Pohlman has crafted and established a proven legacy of culture building, on-court excellence, and the ability to recruit and develop some of the finest student-athletes in Drake history. As the Bulldogs' recruiting coordinator under Baranczyk, Pohlman assembled rosters that advanced to three straight NCAA Tournament appearances, won four regular season MVC titles, two MVC Tournament championships, and a record of 123-39.

SERIES HISTORY WITH DRAKE

Saturday stands as the 89th overall meeting between the two programs, as Drake leads the series 49-39. When meeting in Des Moines, it is the Bulldogs with a 26-13 advantage.

As the two met to begin the 2022-23 MVC season, it was a combined 44 points from Mary Crompton and Paige Robinson that led Illinois State to an 87-76 win over the Bulldogs from CEFCU Arena.

As part of her efforts, Crompton became the 30th Redbird, and second ever under Kristen Gillespie, to eclipse the 1,000-point mark in the third quarter.

Drake was led by Anna Miller's 19 points as she and Maggie Bair finished with double double efforts. Miller would also grab 11 rebounds while Bair finished with 13 points and 12 rebounds on the night.  

HOMECOURT ADVANTAGE

While the league's overall homecourt record is a pedestrian 46-40 (53.5 percent), notably the five teams with winning records in league play have combined for a 29-7 record at home (80.6 percent).

P-Rob IS A PROBLEM

Graduate guard Paige Robinson is the latest MVC Newcomer of the Week, marking her third NOTW honor this season, following a strong outing last weekend versus Southern Illinois and Missouri State.

The Bethany native averaged 26.5 points per game, as she went 16-of-35 from the field (45.7%) and 6-of-15 (40.0%) from long range. She also averaged five and a half rebounds per contest while holding four assists, one block, and one steal.

BUILDING A WINNING CULTURE

Head coach Kristen Gillespie achieved her 200th career win with a 67-63 road win over Missouri State on Jan. 5. The Redbird head ball coach soon followed that up as she collected win no. 100 at Illinois State on Jan. 22, as part of a 32-point win over Evansville for the 'Birds.

Gillespie becomes 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.

JOURNEY WOMAN

Graduate guard Mary Crompton became the ninth Redbird WBB athlete to eclipse 100 career starts on Jan. 22 versus Evansville. Prior to Crompton, the last Redbird to hold 100 career starts is now current head coach of UIC, Ashleen Bracey.  

With her now 107 career starts, Crompton currently sits sixth all-time in Redbird women's basketball history for the category. She is six starts away from surpassing Jenny Schmidt (1995-99) for fifth all-time with 113 career starts.

IOWA CITY'S OWN

As of Feb. 17, graduate guard Mary Crompton sees herself rank among the top-20 in active career leaders for three-pointers made and three-point field goal percentage.

Crompton is 15th among active players with 282 three-pointers made while having the 16th-best three-point percentage with a mark of 40.5-percent.

CLIMBING IN THE MVC RANKS

Mary Crompton continues her move up the Valley career three-point field goal list. The graduate student sits solely in 3rd on the Valley's all-time list with 282 makes and is only 13 threes away from becoming 2nd all-time in Valley history.

MAKING THEMSELVES KNOWN

As the MVC season rolls on for Illinois State, a trio of athletes continue making themselves seen within the top-50 of NCAA DI for four individual categories (as of 2/17/23).

Paige Robinson is currently 24th in points per game (19.5); Mary Crompton sits 6th for 3-point field goal percentage (45.9%) and tied for 28th for 3pt field goals per game (2.7); Kate Bullman is tied for 47th nationally in blocks with 38 total blocks this season. Finally, Maya Wong is currently second nationally in free-throw percentage with a mark of 92.9% from the line.

PLAYING BOTH SIDES OF THE BALL

Thanks to their efforts thus far, ISU currently ranks top-50 in two team categories (as of 2/17/23) across Division I WBB.

The Redbirds are 7th in three-point percentage with a mark of 38.2% as a team while being 33rd on the defensive side with an average of 4.5 blocks per game.

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 19 wins this season, Illinois State is shooting 45.1% from the field and 40.8% from three-point range. Meanwhile, in their six losses, the shooting drops to 34.4% from the field and 28.1% from three-point range.

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. As her time as a Redbird, both on and off the court, is forever remembered, Goods remains ranked in the top-25 in ISU women's basketball history for the following: 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). Goods also remains in the top-10 for the following categories: career rebounds per game (6.9), career blocks per game (0.9), and career double-doubles (12).

As the program continues to honor Simone, the Redbirds dedicated the 2022-23 season to her life and legacy at ISU. Every game this season, ISU players have worn an "SG" patch on their jerseys as the ISU coaching staff wears a similar patch on their respective game day attire.

RISE OF THE VALLEY

The NCAA NET Report (Feb. 12) 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. 60 with UNI (64), Belmont (87), and Illinois State (89 rounding out the schools in the top-100. Missouri State (106) and Murray State (130) rank in the top 130.

Only eight 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).

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.

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.

Print Friendly Version

Players Mentioned

Kate Bullman

#32 Kate Bullman

F
6' 2"
Junior
Mary  Crompton

#3 Mary Crompton

G
5' 8"
Graduate Student
Maya Wong

#12 Maya Wong

G
5' 8"
Redshirt Junior
Paige Robinson

#14 Paige Robinson

G
5' 11"
Graduate Student

Players Mentioned

Kate Bullman

#32 Kate Bullman

6' 2"
Junior
F
Mary  Crompton

#3 Mary Crompton

5' 8"
Graduate Student
G
Maya Wong

#12 Maya Wong

5' 8"
Redshirt Junior
G
Paige Robinson

#14 Paige Robinson

5' 11"
Graduate Student
G