NORMAL, Ill. - As the regular season enters its penultimate weekend of action, Illinois State welcomes the UIC Flames to Normal for a Thursday night matchup. Tip-off between the Redbirds and Flames is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. from inside CEFCU Arena – Home of the Redbirds.
Thursday will be an ESPN+ broadcast with Scott Sudikoff and Sean Johnson on the call while Greg Halbelib provides the radio call on WJBC AM 1230 / FM 102.1 or the Varsity Network for Redbird fans.
GAME INFORMATION
v. UIC (Game Notes)
When: Thursday, Feb. 23
Tip-off: 6:30 p.m. CT
Location: Normal, Ill.
Facility: CEFCU Arena
Watch: ESPN+
Live Stats: StatBroadcast
Listen: WJBC AM 1230 / FM 102.1
LAST TIME OUT
Despite an early advantage after the first 10 minutes, Illinois State falls on the road to the Drake Bulldogs by a final score of 83-67 from the Knapp Center Saturday.
Mary Crompton scored a team-high 17 points while Abbie Aalsma gathered 12 points off the bench while Kate Bullman and Maya Wong scored 10 each, respectively.
Bullman's seven rebounds paced the team, while a quartet of 'Birds (Crompton, Bullman, Paige Robinson, and Jada Stinson) dished out two assists apiece.
The visitors held a nine-point (22-13) lead after the first 10 minutes were complete, but it was a 25-8 second quarter in favor of the Bulldogs that got the momentum fully on their side. At the break, it was the home team leading 38-30 as they looked to keep the ball rolling once the second half began.
Drake would build up a lead as big as 16 in the third quarter, before ISU worked to trim the lead as the margin stood at 15 with one quarter to go. In the final 10 minutes, almost every ISU response was answered by Drake as the lead grew out to 21 (74-53) with just under five minutes to go. The final five minutes saw the lead get no smaller than 16.
Drake was led by Anna Miller's 18 points while Maggie Bair had a 14-point, 14-rebound double double.
With the loss, ISU falls for the first time in a road MVC game, while dropping to 19-7 overall and 13-3 in MVC play. For Drake, the Bulldogs improve to 16-8 overall and 11-5 in MVC play.
SCOUTING THE FLAMES
UIC comes to Normal after splitting a road trip last week against Evansville and Indiana State. The Flames were defeated by the Aces 68-65 in OT last Friday before picking up a 56-50 win over the Sycamores to end the weekend on Sunday.
Josie Filer leads the way for the program with an average of 12.3 points per game (14th in the Valley) and 6.8 rebounds per game (11th in the Valley). As a team, UIC has the top scoring defense as they limit opponents to 57.9 points per game while scoring 56.7 points a game themselves, which is 11th in the MVC.
In her first season with UIC is Ashleen Bracey, who is no stranger to the Windy City or the Valley. A native of nearby Oak Park, Illinois and former standout student-athlete at ISU, Bracey came to UIC in March 2022 after spending time under Robin Pingeton at Missouri.
During her tenure with the Tigers, Bracey helped Mizzou reach three NCAA Tournaments and make two WNIT appearances. She would also play a pivotal role in Missouri's recruiting efforts, leading efforts to sign the nation's 12th-ranked recruiting class in 2019, which is regarded as best in program history.
Prior to Missouri, Bracey was part of the staff at UAB from 2012-15 while also making stops in her coaching career at Ball State and Eureka College.
SERIES HISTORY WITH UIC
Thursday is only the 22nd time UIC and Illinois State will match up, as ISU holds a 18-3 series lead. When meeting in Normal, it is the Redbirds defending home court with an 8-2 advantage in the series.
As the two last met in late January, DeAnna Wilson led the way with 15 points as Paige Robinson, Kate Bullman, and Mary Crompton all gathered 12 points in the 55-42 win for the 'Birds. Wilson also grabbed a team-high seven rebounds while Robinson dished out a team-high five assists.
UIC saw a pair of athletes finish in double figures, as Josie Filer and Jaida McCloud gathered 10 points apiece. Filer added 10 rebounds to her stat line, finishing with the first double-double against ISU since Chelsea Cain of Indiana State did so a week prior.
HOMECOURT ADVANTAGE
While the league's overall home court record is a pedestrian 50-46 (52.1percent), notably the five teams with winning records in league play have combined for a 32-8 record at home (80.0 percent). Illinois State joins Missouri State and UNI with a home record of 6-2 this season.
TIGHT RACE TO THE FINISH
With two weeks to go in the regular season, the Valley race has a three-way tie at the top of the standings with Belmont, Illinois State, and UNI all sitting at 13-3 in league play.
Missouri State sits one game back at 12-4, while Drake is 11-4 and still in the hunt for a title.
P-Rob IS A PROBLEM
Graduate guard Paige Robinson was named the MVC Newcomer of the Week, her third NOTW honor this season, following a strong outing versus Southern Illinois and Missouri State on Feb. 10 & 12.
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 108 career starts, Crompton currently sits sixth all-time in Redbird women's basketball history for the category. She is five starts away from surpassing Jenny Schmidt (1995-99) for fifth all-time with 113 career starts.
IOWA CITY'S OWN
As of Feb. 22, 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 286 three-pointers made while having the 16th-best three-point percentage with a mark of 40.7-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 286 makes and is only 9 threes away from becoming 2nd all-time in Valley history.
MAKING THEMSELVES KNOWN
As the MVC season rolls on for Illinois State, multiple Redbirds continue making themselves seen within the top-50 of NCAA DI for five individual categories (as of 2/22/23).
Paige Robinson is currently 28th in points per game (18.8); Mary Crompton sits 4th for 3-point field goal percentage (46.8%) and 26th for 3pt field goals per game (2.8); Maya Wong is third nationally in free-throw percentage (92.9); Finally, Kate Bullman is tied for 43rd nationally in blocks with 31 total blocks this season.
PLAYING BOTH SIDES OF THE BALL
Thanks to their efforts thus far, ISU currently ranks top-50 in two team categories (as of 2/22/23) across Division I WBB.
The Redbirds are 7th in three-point percentage with a mark of 38.1% as a team while being t-27th 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 seven losses, the shooting drops to 35.4% from the field and 29.2% from three-point range.
RECEIVING A VOTE
For the first time this season, the Illinois State women's basketball team received a vote in the Associated Press Women's Basketball Top-25 Poll, released Monday.
The last time ISU received an AP Poll vote came in March 2010, a season in which the Redbirds finished 28-8 and advanced all the way to the WNIT semifinals.
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. 19) has four Valley teams that rank in the top-100, including six of the 12 sitting in the top-135. Drake leads the way at no. 56 with UNI (68), Belmont (86), and Illinois State (88) rounding out the schools in the top-100. Missouri State (103) and Murray State (132) rank in the top 135.
Only eight leagues have six or more teams in the top 135 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.
