ST. LOUIS – A total of five members of the Illinois State women's basketball program were honored with 2022-23 All-Missouri Valley Conference recognitions, as announced by the conference office on Wednesday night.
Graduate student Paige Robinson took home a total of four MVC honors, headlined by being named the 2022-23 Jackie Stiles Player of the Year. Along with POTY honors, Robinson was named an All-MVC First Team selection, the MVC Newcomer of the Year, and an All-Newcomer Team selection following her first regular season with the Redbirds.
The Redbirds also gathered Coach of the Year honors Wednesday as Kristen Gillespie was award the distinction for the 2022-23 season. Gillespie becomes the first MVC Coach of the Year from Illinois State since Stephanie Glance was awarded the honor in 2012.
This season, Gillespie has led the Redbirds to 23 wins, including 17 in MVC play, which is the most wins in a season under her direction and the most MVC wins for the Redbirds in a season since 1984-85 under Jill Hutchinson & Melinda Fischer (17-1).
In the process of garnering 23 wins this season, Gillespie surpassed a pair of career milestones: capturing her 200th career victory as a college basketball coach on Jan. 5 at Missouri State before collecting win no. 100 as a Redbird on Jan. 22 inside CEFCU Arena.
The 23 wins for ISU under Gillespie also stand as the most wins for any Redbird women's basketball program in a season since 2012-13 when the 'Birds finished 24-11 under then-head coach Stephanie Glance.
Robinson, the reigning MVC Newcomer of the Week, becomes the first Jackie Stiles Player of the Year for Illinois State since former All-American Kristi Cirone was awarded the honor for the third straight time following the 2008-09 season. Robinson is the fourth overall Redbird to win this award, joining the likes of Cirone, Pam Tanner (1988-89), and Susan Wellman (1987-88).
This season, the guard has continually be the leading scorer for the Redbirds, averaging 18.8 points per game while shooting 46.2 percent from the field.
The Bethany native ranks in the top-15 of several statistics in the conference including minutes played (2nd, 34.4 mins/game), scoring (2nd, 18.8 points/game), and assists (11th, 3.3 assists/game). Robinson tied a career-high 37 points on Nov. 20 while racking up double-digit scoring in 25 of 29 games this season, including 16 games of 20+ points.
With her recognition of Newcomer of the Year, Robinson becomes the first Redbird athlete with this distinction since JuJu Redmond was named the Newcomer of the Year following the 2019-2020 season. She also becomes the first All-Newcomer Team selection since DeAnna Wilson and Terrion Moore were All-Newcomer selections in 2021.Â
The Redbirds were also awarded a couple more All-MVC recognitions, as senior DeAnna Wilson was named All-MVC Second Team, graduate guard Mary Crompton gained a spot as an All-MVC Third Team selection, and junior Kate Bullman was selected as part of the All-Defensive Team.
Wilson, a senior from St. Louis, Missouri, was selected to the All-MVC Second Team. This season, the senior is averaging 12.8 points and 7.0 rebounds a contest. Wilson was named an All-MVC First Team selection last season, while also gaining a spot on the All-Newcomer Team following her debut season at ISU in 2021.
Crompton, a graduate student from Iowa City, Iowa, was tabbed All-MVC Third Team. The graduate guard was recently named the MVC Scholar Athlete of the Year and Scholar Athlete First Team for the second straight season earlier this week. The sixth-best sharpshooter nationally in terms of three-point percentage, Crompton leads the Valley, shooting 44.0% from deep while averaging 11.1 points and 2.7 triples per contest.
Bullman, a junior from Grayslake, Illinois, was named to the All-Defensive Team. Bullman is averaging 7.0 points in her third year with the Redbirds and is ranked third in the league with 1.6 blocks per game and 47 total blocks.
The no. 1 overall seeded Redbirds await their quarterfinal opponent in the 2023 Hoops in the Heartland MVC Tournament, which will be the winner of Evansville and Murray State, who play Thursday at 12 p.m. CT from Vibrant Arena at The MARK in Moline.
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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