NORMAL, IL – Illinois State women's basketball (6-6, 0-1 MVC) rings in 2025 and opens the home portion of its MVC slate this week, hosting Indiana State (2-10, 0-1 MVC) Thursday at 6:30 p.m. and Evansville (4-8, 0-1 MVC) Saturday at 4 p.m.
SERIES HISTORY
Illinois State's two longest-active win streaks against current MVC foes are against the Sycamores and Purple Aces.
Thursday marks the 106th all-time meeting between Illinois State and Indiana State. The Redbirds have won 10 consecutive meetings over the Sycamores, which includes a 64-59 win last season in Terre Haute. It is the second-longest active win streak for Illinois State against a current MVC foe.
Illinois State leads the all-time series with Indiana State 60-45 and 35-15 in Normal.
The Redbirds and Purple Aces are set for their 64th all-time meeting in a series that Illinois State has dominated 44-19. Illinois State has won 14-straight over Evansville, which leads the program's active win streaks over current Valley foes.
Illinois State holds a 21-10 advantage over Evansville all-time in Normal. The Purple Aces have not won in CEFCU Arena since a 62-50 victory in Jan. of 2015. Last season, the Redbirds earned a pair of victories over Evansville, once at CEFCU Arena 78-50 and once at the MVC Tournament 85-64.
SHANNON'S BIG NIGHT
Shannon Dowell put up an impressive 28-point performance in the MVC opener at Murray State Sunday. Dowell's performance marked the most points by a Redbird this season and her third performance of 20+ points on the year. It was the most a Redbird has scored in an MVC opener since at least 2009-10 (Per Her Hoop Stats)
Dowell finished 10-for-17 from the field (58.8%) on the night, her second game this season with 20+ points on better than 55% shooting from the field. She shot 63.6% (7-for-11) in the performance against New Mexico.
The outing was Dowell's third-career performance of 25 points against an MVC foe. She is the only Redbird since the start of the 2009-10 campaign to record at least three performances of 25+ points against an MVC foe before the end of their sophomore campaign. (Per Her Hoop Stats).
HOT-SHOOTING BIRDS
The Redbirds opened MVC play with a 33-for-56 (58.9%) performance from the field at Murray State. It was just the third time since the start of the 2022-23 campaign that Illinois State, which ranks 16th in NCAA DI shooting 48.8% from the field this season, has shot better than 55% from the floor against an MVC foe. (60.8% vs Evansville 3.14.24; 57.7% vs UNI 1.21.24)
Under Kristen Gillespie, the Redbirds have shot better than 55% from the field against an MVC foe just eight times, with only three of those instances coming away from home.
GoRedbirds.com and the Illinois State Redbirds App: Your sources for Illinois State tickets, Weisbecker Athletic Fund gifts, multimedia, Redbird merchandise, photos and more.
