MOLINE, Ill. – Making its first nine shots of the game – and 12 of its first 13 overall – the Illinois State women's basketball team jumped out to a 12-point first quarter lead over the Evansville Aces and never looked back in a lopsided 85-64 win in ISU's 2024 MVC Tournament opener on Thursday afternoon.
The Redbirds shot a season-best 60.8 percent from the field (31-of-51), including making 72 percent in the first half and 90 percent in the first quarter.
Illinois State (21-10 overall) returns to the Vibrant Arena floor tomorrow with a 2:30 p.m. tip-off against the Northern Iowa Panthers.
Five Redbirds – Shannon Dowell (14), DeAnna Wilson (11), Daijah Smith (11), Maya Wong (10), and Brooke Coffey (10) – scored in double-figures, as all 13 ISU players on the roster saw nearly five minutes of playing time in the game, with 11 players scoring for the 'Birds.
Coffey pulled down a game-high eight rebounds for ISU, with the Redbirds out-rebounding the Aces 34-to-24. Abbie Aalsma dished out four assists for the game-high, while Shannon Dowell nabbed a trio of steals for the 'Birds.
The lead traded hands two times early, with the Redbirds scoring first in the game with a Wilson lay-in. Evansville took its only lead of the game on a three-pointer to lead 3-2 before ISU scored 16 of the game's next 18 points to lead by double-digits and led 23-11 after the first quarter.
The Redbird advantage reached single digits twice in the second half, but the Purple Aces could get no closer than nine points in the game's final 34 minutes. Illinois State led 46-28 at halftime and 70-47 at the end of three quarters. The margin reached as big as 25 points early in the fourth quarter, as ISU coasted to the 21-point win in which just three players played more than 20 minutes.
Evansville got 23 points from Navaeh Thomas, while Maggie Hartwig scored 16 points for the Purple Aces.
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