NORMAL, Ill. - Illinois State (21-11, 13-7 MVC) hosts Charleston (22-9, 13-5 CAA) in the Second Round of the 2024 WNIT Sunday at CEFCU Arena on ESPN+ and the Redbird Sports Radio Network.
SERIES HISTORY
Sunday marks the first meeting between the history of the two programs. It will be just the third time since 2000 that Illinois State has met a Colonial Athletic Conference opponent (Stony Brook, 2006; Northeastern, 2017).
LAST TIME OUT
Illinois State used a second-half push in which it out-scored Northern Iowa 49-42; however, the comeback came up just short as the Redbirds fell to the Panthers 79-75 in the MVC quarterfinal.
Maya Wong scored a team-high 19 points while dishing out a game-high five assists, while Abbie Aalsma scored 16 points including 4-of-6 shooting from long range, as DeAnna Wilson scored a dozen. Kate Bullman pulled down nine rebounds to go with her nine points, with Wilson nabbing eight rebounds for the Redbirds.
Illinois State made 30-of-69 shots from the field in the game (43.5 percent) and 9-of-24 (37.5 percent) from long range. Northern Iowa made 52.6 percent of its shots in the game (30-of-57), 43.8 percent from three-point range (7-of-16), and 12-of-17 free throws. The Panthers out-rebounded the Redbirds 36-to-32 despite ISU winning the second-half rebounding battle 21-to-13.
The Redbirds scored first in the game on an Aalsma jumper; however, Northern Iowa followed with six consecutive points and the Redbirds were playing catch-up for the remainder of the period and went into the quarter break trailing 20-11. In the second quarter the Redbird deficit reached as many as 18 before ISU ran off an 11-2 run with three-pointers from Molly Lenz, Aalsma, and Wong with a lay-up by Hannah Kelle mixed in, with the 'Birds closing the gap to nine at 35-26. A Panthers' jumper at the halftime buzzer sent Northern Iowa into the locker room with a 37-26 advantage.
The Illinois State offense erupted in the third quarter, using seven points from Bullman and six from DeAnna Wilson to out-score the Panthers 24-to-19. Trailing by 12 with 2:21 to play in the period, the Redbirds used a 10-1 run over a minute and 42-second span to close the gap to three with 18 seconds remaining in the period and went into the fourth quarter trailing by just six at 56-50.
ISU opened the fourth quarter strong, cutting the gap to four with 8:54 to play in the game on Aalsma's third three-pointer of the game; however, the fourth-seeded Panthers answered by running off the next seven points to push the margin back to double-digits. The 'Birds got the deficit down to as few as four on two separate occasions over the final 30 seconds of the game; but the Panthers iced the game down the stretch by making 8-of-10 free throws down the stretch.
WNIT HISTORY
Illinois State earned a WNIT bid for the 14th time in the history of the program and third time under head coach Kristen Gillespie. The Redbirds are 15-9 in the WNIT since 2000 and 12-3 at home in the WNIT over that stretch. This year marks the first time since 2012-2013 that the program has hosted postseason basketball at CEFCU.
Illinois State made three consecutive trips to the WNIT Semifinals from 2009 to 2011, earning six wins over Power 5 foes across the three runs. Under Gillespie the Redbirds are 1-3 in the WNIT, with the win coming 68-62 over Samford in the 2021 Consolation Semifinal.
POSTSEASON STAPLE
Illinois State has earned a fourth-straight postseason bid for just the third time in the NCAA era (1981-82 to pres.) and the first time under head coach Kristen Gillespie. That includes a 2022 appearance in the NCAA Tournament. The Redbirds went to a pair of NCAA Tournaments and two WNITs from 1982 to 1985.
In the longest consecutive postseason stretch in the program's NCAA history, Illinois State earned seven-straight bids from 2007 to 2013. That included a 2008 appearance in the NCAA Tournament, one of six in the history of the program.
PROTECTING HOME COURT
Illinois State is 13-2 at home this season, which is one of the better single-season performances at home in program history. The Redbirds 13 home victories mark the most home wins by Illinois State in the Kristen Gillespie era.
The Redbirds are just one win shy of moving into a tie for the second-most home wins in a single season in the history of the program.
This season marks the 7th time in program history that Illinois State has won 13-plus home games in a single season. This year's squad is just the second team in program history to win 13-plus home games in the regular season, joining the 2010-11 team that holds the school record with 17 home wins.
RARE REDBIRD COMPANY
Against UNI last week DeAnna Wilson became just the second player in program history to score 1,500 career points and grab 800 career rebounds, joining Womens Basketball Hall of Famer Cathy Boswell.
1500 CAREER PTS & 800 CAREER REB (PROGRAM HISTORY)
Athlete PTS REB
Cathy Boswell (1979-83) 2,005 1,054
DeAnna Wilson 1,508 850
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