NORMAL, Ill. – No.5 seed Illinois State women's basketball (20-11, 14-6 MVC) battles No.12 seed Southern Illinois (4-25, 2-18 MVC) Thursday in the opening round of the 2025 Credit Union 1 MVC Women's Basketball Tournament.
MVC HONOREES
Four Redbirds earned MVC honors following the regular season.
Shannon Dowell earned All-MVC second team honors. She ranked fifth in the Valley averaging 16.9 points per game on 48.7% shooting from the floor. Dowell tallied 16 double-figure scoring performances and seven 20+ point outings. She also tallied three double-doubles in MVC play.
Elyce Knudsen earned MVC Newcomer Team honors, after averaging 14.0 points per game in MVC play on 45.4% shooting from the floor and 43.4% shooting from deep. Knudsen earned a league-best five MVC Newcomer of the Week honors.
Addison Martin also earned MVC Newcomer Team honors this season. She led the league with a mark of 58.7% percent shooting from the floor in MVC play and averaged 12.3 points per game with 5.8 rebounds per game. She was a three-time winner of MVC Newcomer of the Week.
Doneelah Washington landed on the MVC Freshman team. She led all freshmen with 25 blocks in Valley play, ranking fifth among all Valley players. Washington earned three MVC Freshman of the Week honors this season.
TOURNAMENT HISTORY
The Redbirds come to Evansville as a five-time winner of the MVC Women's Basketball tournament. (1983, 1989, 2005, 2008, 2022) This year marks just the fourth time in program history the Redbirds are seeded No.5. It is the second time since the tournament expanded to 10 teams in 2006. The Redbirds are 3-4 all-time as a No.5 seed, including the 2024 tournament in Moline.
Illinois State last earned the MVC Tournament title as a four seed in 2022, taking down No.5 Loyola, No.1 Southern Illinois and No.3 UNI en route to that title. Graduate Maya Wong and senior Lauren Cohen are holdovers from that 2022 title team.
SERIES HISTORY
The Redbirds lead the all-time series with Southern Illinois 69-46 overall and by a 5-4 margin at the MVC Tournament. Illinois State has won seven-straight meetings with the Salukis, which is the program's fourth longest active win streak over a current Valley foe. (Including postseason)
The Redbirds are coming off a 99-86 win over the Salukis to close the regular season, where Elyce Knudsen tallied 28 points and Shannon Dowell totaled 25 points.
MVC NEWCOMER OF THE WEEK
For an MVC-leading fifth time this season Illinois State's Elyce Knudsen earned Valley Newcomer of the Week, the league announced Monday. Knudsen averaged 20.5 points per game on 55.6% shooting from the floor and 71.4% shooting from deep across two games for Illinois State last week.
She scored a season-high 28 points in a win over Southern Illinois Sunday, knocking down a career-high seven threes and dishing five assists. It was the most points in a single game by any newcomer last week. She is one of just four MVC players this season, and the only MVC newcomer, to tally 25+ points and make 7+ threes in a single Valley game. It marked her second MVC game this season with 5+ threes, joining a performance of six threes against Valparaiso March 1 . She is the only Valley newcomer with multiple outings of 5+ threes this season.
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