Redbirds Ready To Compete At Annual Discover Puerto Rico Shootout

SETTING THE SCENE
Illinois State is off to a 4-1 start to the season and will look to continue that hot start in San Juan, Puerto Rico, at the annual Discover Puerto Rico Shootout November 26-28. The Redbirds will compete against Rice (Wednesday), East Carolina (Thursday) and Wake Forest (Friday) at Coliseo Guillermo Angulo over the Thanksgiving break.

SCOUTING THE OPPONENTS
• Rice sits at 3-2 on the season.
• Dominique Ennis heads the Rice offense with 11.2 points per game, while Hailey Adams leads the Owls and ranks second in the AAC with 10.4 boards per contest.
• The Redbirds lead the series against the Owls, 2-1, with the last matchup ending in a 71-61 ISU win on March 15, 2007.
• East Carolina is 2-3 on the year. The Pirates are led by Anzhané Hutton, who averages 15.4 points and 9.6 boards per game.
• The Redbirds and Pirates last met on Jan. 14, 1977, when ISU won, 75-55.
• Wake Forest comes into the tournament with an unblemished 6-0 record.
• Grace Oliver leads the Demon Deacons with 13.5 points per game while shooting .638 from the field. Her field goal percentage ranks in the top 25 in the NCAA.
• Friday's game will mark the first ever matchup between the Redbirds and Demon Deacons.

LAST TIME OUT
• ISU is coming off a 81-75 win last Friday over Saint Louis to remain undefeated at home this season. The Redbirds now lead the series against the Billikens, 4-3.
• The Redbirds had five players in double figures, led by Addison Martin's 18 points and nine rebounds.
• Bella Finnegan finished with a season-best 16 points, going 4-for-6 from behind the arc.
• Kya Hurt scored a career-high 16 points against the Billikens, including a 6-for-7 effort at the charity stripe.

MVC HONORS
• After helping the Redbirds to a pair of wins last week, Illinois State's Doneelah Washington and Kya Hurt both earned weekly player honors from the Missouri Valley Conference on Monday. Washington was named the MVC Player of the Week, while Hurt was tabbed as the MVC Freshman of the Week by the league office.
• Washington delivered a dominant two-game stretch last week, averaging a double-double with 13.0 points and 13.5 rebounds
• Hurt made a major impact off the bench, averaging 11.5 points while shooting 50 percent from the field in the two victories.

DONEELAH DOWN LOW
• Doneelah Washington recorded her second straight double-double in Illinois State's 81-75 victory over Saint Louis. The sophomore forward scored 15 points and grabbed a career-high 14 boards while also adding five steals and a blocked shot.
• Washington's five steals are the most in a single game for a Redbird since Terrion Moore had seven at Loyola Chicago on March 5, 2021.
• Washington ranks second in the MVC in rebounds (10.2), third in blocked shots (1.4) and ninth in steals (1.8) per game.
• Washington is just the third DI player with 15+ points, 10+ rebounds, 5+ steals and 4+ assists in a single game this season, joining UConn's Sarah Strong and Madison Booker of Texas.

SHOOTING EFFICIENCY
•The Redbirds lead the MVC and rank 41st in the nation in team field goal percentage at .474.
•Individually, three Redbirds sit in the top five in field goal percentage in the MVC, including Nevaeh Thomas (2nd, .667), Addison Martin (4th, .525) and Doneelah Washington (5th, .523)

HITTING THE CENTURY MARK
• Illinois State's final basket of the game with just 33 seconds left put the Redbirds over the century mark with 101 points, much to the delight of the thousands of kids in the stands chanting for 100 against Chicago State.
• It marked the first 100-point output for the Redbirds was since scoring 110 against St. Francis last December, and it was the fourth time under head coach Kristen Gillespie that ISU eclipsed the century mark.

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.

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.
• She currently leads the MVC and ranks 33rd in the NCAA with 6.2 assist per game.

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 35-9 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 44 games, and 5+ double-figure scorers in 14 games. 

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 MVC 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

20+ WIN SEASON
• Illinois State secured a 20-win campaign for the third consecutive season under head coach Kristen Gillespie in 2024-25, marking the first time since 2008-09 to 2010-11 that the program has earned three consecutive seasons with 20+ wins. 
• Illinois State's 24 wins last season tie the 2022-23 squad for the most in a single season under head coach Kristen Gillespie.  

MONEY MARTIN
• Addi Martin led the MVC shooting 58.7% from the field in Valley play last season. She shot north of 50% in 16 MVC games, more than any player in the Valley. 
• She had two 20+ outings in MVC play. That included a season-high performance of 23 points vs Southern Illinois Jan. 31, her first 20-point performance as a Redbird. She finished with 20 points and 8 rebounds at Drake Feb. 7.