NORMAL, Ill. - Illinois State Women's Basketball (19-9, 12-6 MVC) heads into a pivotal two-game homestand to close the regular season as Murray State (18-9, 11-7 MVC) and Belmont (22-7, 15-3 MVC) visit CEFCU Arena Thursday at 6:30 p.m and Saturday at 4 p.m.
SERIES HISTORY
The Redbirds look to respond from losses to Murray State and Belmont earlier this season.
Illinois State dropped a 90-55 result to the Racers in Murray back in January. Overall, Illinois State leads the all-time series with Murray State by a 4-2 margin and 2-1 mark since the Racers joined the Missouri Valley Conference.
The Redbirds and Bruins have split the only two meetings in the history of the two programs, which have both come in Nashville as. Belmont makes its first trip to Normal Saturday after handing Illinois State a 64-52 loss in January.
LAST TIME OUT
Shannon Dowell scored a career-high 28 points, but Illinois State Women's Basketball fell to Missouri State 67-62 Saturday at Great Southern Bank Arena. The loss snapped a five-game win streak for Illinois State. The Redbirds rallied from a five-point deficit at the 6:15 mark of the fourth two lead twice in the final three minutes. Missouri State hit two clutch buckets late and pulled out a win. Illinois State had possession down 65-62 with 48 seconds left but turned it over and the Bears took advantage.
Dowell was 12-15 from the field Saturday en route to leading the game with her second-straight performance of 25-plus points. She scored 25 points and grabbed 10 rebounds in a win Thursday at Southern Illinois. She scored 16 points in the first half, single-handedly guiding Illinois State to a 30-26 lead over the Bears at halftime. She was 7-for-8 from the field in the first 20 minutes and added four rebounds to the effort.
Dowell scored six of Illinois State's first 12 points, but the 'Birds trailed 13-12 in a tight first frame. Illinois State led 11-6 after Dowell converted the front end of a three-point play, until Missouri State ended the first quarter on a 7-1 run. She scored five straight points in the second and the Redbirds took a 21-15 advantage that turned out to be Illinois State's largest lead of the game. Missouri State jumped in front 22-21, but it was a 9-4 run from the Redbirds that gave Illinois State an advantage heading into the locker room.
DeAnna Wilson scored the second half's first basket, giving Illinois State a 32-26 advantage. Missouri State fought and tied the game at 38, before taking a 47-45 lead heading into the fourth quarter. To open the fourth quarter Kate Bullman hit the first of her two clutch fourth-quarter threes and gave the Redbirds a 48-47 advantage. Her second three tied the game at 55 with 5:30 remaining.
After Bullman leveled the score, Dowell hit a pair of buckets that gave Illinois State 57-56 and 59-58 fourth-quarter leads. The Bears answered each time. It then was Maya Wong who stepped up for the Redbirds at the 1:58 mark of the fourth. Her floater tied the game at 61, until Missouri State answered to grab a 63-61 lead that they never relinquished.
A STAR IS BORN
After a pair of breakout performances last week Shannon Dowell earned MVC Freshman of the Week honors, as announced by the league office on Tuesday. She averaged 26.5 points, 7.0 rebounds and 1.5 assists across two games last week, putting up the first outings of 20-plus points in her college career.
Dowell opened the week with a 25-point, 10-rebound performance in a win over Southern Illinois that marked her second-career double-double. Dowell followed it up with 28 points at Missouri State on Saturday, which is tied for the second-highest scoring output by a true freshman in the MVC this season. Dowell shot 22-for-32 (68.8%) from the field across the two performances, including an impressive 12-for-15 (80.0%) at Missouri State on Saturday. Dowell's mark of 68.8 percent last week from the field was fifth in the Valley and second among all DI true freshmen.
Dowell is the first MVC true freshman since 2017 to put up 25+ points and 10+ rebounds in a single game. She is the second Redbird true freshman in the Kristen Gillespie era to register a 20-point, 10-rebound double-double, joining Lexy Koudelka's 20 points and 10 rebounds in 2019 at Bradley. She is the only freshman in the MVC this year to put up 25-plus points in consecutive games. Her 53 total points were the most by any MVC player last week, ranking 6th nationally and first among all DI true freshman.
It marks the second time Dowell has earned MVC Freshman of the Week, after she became the first Redbird to ever earn the award, one that was introduced by the league office prior to the start of this season, with her recognition Dec. 27.
FIGHTING FOR SEEDING
Illinois State is in the drivers seat for clinching a top-four seed to next weeks Hoops In the Heartland. With a pair of victories this week Illinois State can clinch a top-four seed and First-Round by at the tournament. The Redbirds can fall as low as the six seed with any combination of league results this week.
If the Redbirds clinch a first-round bye, it will mark the sixth straight season Illinois State has finished in the top-four of the MVC standings.
PROTECTING HOME COURT
With a win Thursday, Illinois State will have secured its 13th home victory of the season. That would mark the most home wins by Illinois State in the Kristen Gillespie era. The Redbirds are two home wins 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 11th time in program history that Illinois State has won 12-plus home games in a single season. Of those 11 seasons, only two have come without hosting a postseason contest at CEFCU Arena (2023-24, 2019-20) .
THE FUTURE IS BRIGHT
For the first time since the 2015-2016 season, a true freshman has led Illinois State in scoring for three consecutive games.
Savannah McGowan went 7-for-9 from the field for a career-high 15 points that led Illinois State in the win over Evansville. Dowell then led the Redbirds with her 25-point night against the Salukis and 28-point performance against the Bears.
During the 2015-2016 campaign, Shakeela Flower (twice) and current redbird assistant coach Katrina Beck combined to lead Illinois State in scoring over three consecutive games. Fowler scored 15 points in Jan. of 2016 at Southern Illinois and tallied 19 points to lead the Redbirds in the next game vs Indiana State. Beck scored a team-high 13 points in the third game vs Drake.
1K CAREER POINTS
Maya Wong is 11 points shy of reaching 1,000 for her Illinois State career.
She would be the 32nd player in program history to score 1,000 career points, and the second active Redbird along with DeAnna Wilson.
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