NORMAL, Ill. – The visiting Saint Louis Billikens took control of Friday night's game against Illinois State with a nine-point lead after the first quarter. However, the Redbirds (4-1) would outscore the Billikens (1-5) by a margin of 21-6 in the second quarter to take a lead at halftime and battled in the second half to come away with a hard-fought 81-75 victory on Doug Collins Court at Redbird Arena.
HOW IT HAPPENED
• After a three-pointer by Bella Finnegan gave the Redbirds an early lead, Saint Louis proceeded to go on an 8-0 run over the next two-plus minutes before Doneelah Washington drilled a three-pointer from the top of the key to cut the deficit to two at 8-6.
• The Redbirds would tie the game at 8-8 on a layup by Trista Fayta, before the Billikens went on a 6-0 before a jumper by Kya Hurt snapped a two-plus minute scoring drought for ISU and brought the score 14-10. Saint Louis would finish the quarter on a 7-2 run to take a 21-12 lead after the first 10 minutes of action.
• The start of the second quarter was a physical back-and-forth between the two squads, before a three-pointer by Finnegan cut into the Saint Louis lead at 25-21 with 5:26 left before halftime. A three-pointer by Fayta with 3:21 left in the quarter would then cut the Saint Louis lead to just one at 27-26, before a layup by Washington would give the Redbirds their first lead since early in the first quarter at 28-27. A three-point play by Hurt would then stake ISU to a 31-27 lead with just over a minute to play and Hurt would score on a jumper with 40 seconds to play to push the lead to 33-27.
• The Redbirds finished the half on a 15-2 run to take the six-point lead into the locker room to take a 33-27 lead at the break.
• Saint Louis would use an 8-0 run four minutes into the third quarter to regain the lead ta 42-38, before back-to-back baskets by Washington knotted the game at 42-42 with 4:59 remaining in the quarter. The Billikens would push the lead back to five at 50-45, but a three-point play by Fayta and a pair of free throws by Hurt would tie the game at 50-50 with 1:11 to play in the quarter.
• A layup by Washington with just six seconds left on the clock would make the Saint Louis lead just two at 54-52 headed into the final quarter of action.
• The Billikens went up by five at 61-56, before Addison Martin scored five-straight points to tie the game at 61-61 with 5:54 to play. Finnegan would hit her third shot from three-point range with 4:05 left to play to get the lead back at 66-65 at the media timeout.
• Finnegan would then drill her fourth three-pointer of the contest with 1:39 remaining in the game to extend the ISU margin to 73-67. The Redbird run would extend to 13-2 over a three-plus minute span before the Billikens drilled a three-pointer to cut the ISU advantage to 76-70 with 47.7 seconds left in the game. Saint Louis would hit a couple late shots to make things interesting, but the Redbirds held on for the 81-75 victory to improve to 4-1 on the season.
HIGHLIGHTS
• Washington finished the game with her second straight double-double, scoring 15 points while grabbing a career-high 14 rebounds in the victory while also adding five steals and a blocked shot.
• Martin barely left the court for the Redbirds, as she played over 39 minutes and nearly missed a double-double of her own with 18 points and nine rebounds.
• Fayta also saw a ton of court time, playing over 38 minutes while scoring 15 points and dishing out six assists against the Billikens.
• Finnegan finished with a season-best 16 points, thanks to a 4-for-6 effort from behind the arch, and dished out four assists in the contest.
• Hurt rounded out the Redbirds in double figures, as she scored a career-high 16 points in the contest, including a 6-for-7 effort at the charity stripe.
UP NEXT
Illinois State will head to San Juan over the Thanksgiving break to take part in the annual Puerto Rico Shootout, with games scheduled against Rice (Wednesday), East Carolina (Thursday) and Wake Forest (Friday).
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