Redbirds Set To Host Chicago State For Annual Education Day Game

NORMAL, Ill. – An annual tradition resumes on Wednesday, as local students from area schools invade CEFCU Arena to cheer on the Redbirds in ISU's Education Day contest against Chicago State. Over 5,000 kids are expected to pack the stands at the arena along with teachers and chaperons and make their voices heard as the Redbirds (1-1) take on the Cougars (1-2) in a non-conference tilt scheduled for 11 a.m.

THE SERIES
Illinois State and Chicago State will meet for the 6th in program history, with Illinois State leading the series 5-0. The two teams will play for the third-straight season, with the Redbirds picking up a home win in 2023 and road win in Chicago last December. Overall, the Redbirds are 3-0 in games played against the Cougars at CEFCU Arena and in those three wins, ISU has won by an average of 29 with the biggest win a 102-47 victory in 2023.

THE FASTBREAK
• Illinois State and Chicago State will play for the third-straight season when they match up Tuesday. 
• The Redbirds outscored Dayton by 11 points in the third quarter to pull away for an 87-76 win on Doug Collins Court at Redbird Arena in the 2025-26 season opener. The Redbirds shot 51 percent from the field and had four players in doubles figures as ISU won its fourth-straight season opener and its sixth in the last seven seasons overall. 
• For the third-straight season, Illinois State and crosstown foe Illinois Wesleyan met in exhibition action. Five Illinois State players scored in a double figures and two recorded double-doubles, as the Redbirds defeated the Titans by a final of 89-46 in their lone preseason test at CEFCU Arena. Transfer Bella Finnegan finished with a game-high 20 points, including a 5-for-11 effort from three-point range, while Trista Fata (17 points, 10 assists) and Nevaeh Thomas (12 points,10 rebounds) recorded double-doubles for the Redbirds.
• Illinois State advanced to the WNIT Semifinal for the fourth time in program history and for the first time since 2011. The Redbirds made three consecutive WNIT semifinal runs from 2009 to 2011, earning six wins over Power 5 foes across the three runs. The Redbirds made their 16th appearance all-time in the WNIT and their fourth trip to the WNIT in Kristen Gillespie's tenure.
• The Redbirds were 24-13 overall last season, including a 14-6 mark in MVC play and a 14-4 record at home at CEFCU Arena. Illinois State secured a 20-win campaign for the third-straight season, a streak that leads all DI women's teams in the state of Illinois. 
• Illinois State returns seven players from last season's squad that advanced to the WNIT Fab 4, including MVC All-Freshman team selection Doneelah Washington and All-MVC Newcomer team member Addison Martin. 
• Martin and Nevaeh Thomas were listed among several Missouri Valley Conference women's basketball "Players to Watch" for the upcoming 2025-26 season. 

SCOUTING THE COUGARS
•  Chicago State was picked to finish third behind defending champions Farleigh Dickinson (Unanimous First-Place) and behind Stonehill voted as the NEC runner-ups.
• The Cougars are coming off 7-26 season in 2024-25, including a 6-10 record in the NEC where they were the six seed in the NEC tournament. Chicago State upset the three seeded Blue Devils of CCSU in the quarterfinals, but fell to eventual champion FDU in the semifinals of the conference tournament. 
• The Cougars are led sophomore guard Aiyanna Culver, who was voted unanimously to the preseason All-NEC Women's Basketball Team. 
•  Culver was selected as this weeks NEC Co-Player of the Week and Prime Performer after a stellar first three games of the season for the Cougars. Through the first three games of the season, Culver averaged 22.3 points per game, an assist per game, three rebounds per game and shooting 47.8 percent from the field and 33 percent from three point range. 
•  Culver has been the top scorer for the Cougars, as she had 18 points in the season opener against Cleveland State November 3, tied her career high in scoring with 33 points against Winthrop on November 5, and added 16 points against nationality ranked Notre Dame on November 9. 

LAST TIME OUT
An early run for Illinois would stake the Illini to a quick lead, but a late fourth-quarter 9-0 run by Illinois State would put the Redbirds within two before the Illini pulled away for a 75-65 win over the Redbirds on Sunday at the State Farm Center. Nevaeh Thomas led the Redbirds in scoring with 20 points on 9-of-11 shooting from the field and added three rebounds and four assists to cap off a strong day.She led three Redbirds in double figures, as Addison Martin scored 11 points in the second half to finish with 12 for her second double-digit effort of the year and Bella Finnegan added 10 points, including a pair of three-pointers in the contest, to go along with a team-best seven rebounds against the Illini. Trista Fayta was strong at the point once again for the Redbirds, scoring seven points while dishing out a team-high five assists.

THREEBAY UNLOCKED
• The first basket for Illinois State against Dayton was a three-pointer, but it came from an unexpected shooter in Doneelah Washington who made her first two career shots from beyond the arch against the Flyers.
• That performance sparked a big day for the sophomore from Nebraska, who became the first Redbird since the 2009-10 season with 20+ points in a game on a perfect night shooting from the field.
• She also added nine rebounds in the contest to just miss out on her first double-double of the season.

FAYTA TAKES OVER
• In her first career start, Trista Fayta tallied the first double-double of her career with 19 points and 10 assists against Dayton.
• Her complete performance turned out to be a unique one, as Fayta become just the second MVC player in the last 14 seasons to put up 19 points, 10 assists and 4 or more steals in a game.
• With her 10 assists, she became the first Redbirds to post double digit assists since JuJu Redmond in 2022.

MID-MAJOR LOVE
• Illinois State was ranked No. 12 in the preseason CollegeInsiders.com women's basketball Mid-Major Top 25 poll. 
• The Redbirds were one of three Missouri Valley Conference teams listed, including Murray State (No. 8) and Belmont (No. 14).

BALANCED EFFORT
• The Redbirds finished with 4+ double-figure scorers in 25 games last season and did so again in the 2025-26 opener against Dayton. Illinois State is 33-9 when putting 4+ in double-figures since the start of the 2023-24 campaign.
 • Over the last three seasons, Illinois State has finished with 4+ double-figure scorers in 42 games, and 5+ double-figure scorers in 13 games. 

THE REDBIRD STATE
•  Since 2020-2021 the Redbirds have been statistically been the most successful DI women's program in the state of Illinois. 
• The Redbirds lead all DI women's basketball programs in the state of Illinois with 105 total wins and a 64.0 winning percentage over that stretch. 
• Since the start of the 2019-2020 campaign, the Redbirds are 43-11 against in-state foes.
• That includes an 8-1 mark against in-state foes in 2024-25, which improved the Redbirds to 22-2 against in-state foes over the last three seasons.
• Illinois State has won 6-plus games over in-state foes in each of the last six seasons.

PLAYERS TO WATCH 
• Illinois State returns seven players from last season's squad that advanced to the WNIT Fab 4, including MVC All-Freshman team selection Doneelah Washington and All-MVC Newcomer team member Addison Martin. 
• Martin and Nevaeh Thomas were listed among several Missouri Valley Conference women's basketball "Players to Watch" for the upcoming 2025-26 season. 
• Martin started all 37 games for Illinois State and was one of six Redbirds to break the program's single-season record for games played. The Shreveport, Louisiana, native reached double figures in 18 games, including two 20+ point performances, with a season-high of 23 points scored against SIU.
• Thomas averaged 12.1 points per game, a team-high 7.0 rebounds per game and 2.5 assists per game while ranking fifth in the MVC shooting 54.5 percent from the field. Thomas scored in double figures in 29 games, including the first 15 outings of the season, and tallied ten double-doubles, becoming just the sixth player in program history to tally 10+ double-doubles in a single season.

POSTSEASON STAPLE
• Illinois State earned its fifth-straight postseason bid under head coach Kristen Gillespie in 2024-25, which includes a trip to the 2022 NCAA Tournament. 
• It marked just the second time in the NCAA era (1981-82 to pres.) that the program has earned a postseason bid in at least five consecutive seasons. 
• 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.