Redbirds Ride Shirk Crowd to Super 16 Win Over Abilene Christian

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. – Illinois State women's basketball (23-12, 14-6 MVC) rode an electric crowd inside Shirk Center Thursday night to a 78-68 win over Abilene Christian (22-13, 9-7 WAC) in the WNIT Super 16. The Redbirds advance to take on Louisiana Tech Monday night at 6 p.m. in the WNIT Great 8 inside CEFCU Arena.  

Tickets for the Great 8 will go on sale at 9 a.m. Friday morning and can be purchased at goredbirds.com/tickets.  

GAME NOTES  

• Shannon Dowell tallied 20+ points for fifth-straight outing, posting a game-high 28 points with 4 rebounds and 2 assists. She knocked down a trio of first-half threes to put up 14 points in the opening 20 minutes as Illinois State battled the Wildcats.  

• Dowell was one of four Redbirds who finished in double-figures Thursday night as Elyce Knudsen (16 points), Addison Martin (12 points) and Maya Wong (12 points) also joined her. 

• Illinois State and Abilene Christian fought for positioning in the first half and headed to the locker room tied at 33. The lead changed hands eight times in the first half, with both teams grabbing as high as a four-point lead. 

• Knudsen and the Redbirds caught fire in the third quarter to take a double-figure lead into the final frame. Abilene Christian jumped ahead 39-37 at the 7:35 mark of the third, but Illinois State answered with a 17-5 run heading into the fourth quarter.  

• Dowell's bucket put the Redbirds up 48-42 with 3:13 to go, before Knudsen knocked down three consecutive long balls for the Redbirds. The final three pointer gave Illinois State its largest lead of the game 57-44 with 57 seconds to go in the third.  

• Abilene Christian mustered one final run, trimming the Redbird advantage to just three points with under two minutes to go. Illinois State knocked down seven of eight free throws to end the game and hold off the Wildcats.  

HIGHLIGHTS 

• Dowell climbed to 604 points for the 2024-25 campaign, which ranks fourth on Illinois State's single season scoring list. She is just the fourth player in program history to score 600 points in a single season, joining Kristi Cirone (2008-09), Cathy Boswell (649, 1980-81) and Char Govan (630, 1989-90).  

• Knudsen tallied her 85th three pointer of the season, which marks a career-high for the graduate student. She ranks third in program history and is five three pointers away from breaking the program's single season three-point record.

• The Redbirds finished with 4+ double-figure scorers for the 24th time this season. Illinois State is 31-9 when putting 4+ in double-figures since the start of the 2023-24 campaign. 

• Illinois State shot better than 50% from the floor and from deep for the second-straight game to open the WNIT, finishing 52.9% from the field and 55.6% from deep. 

• The Redbirds knocked down ten threes, finishing with 10+ threes for the second-straight WNIT game. Illinois State tallied 11 three pointers to beat Western Illinois in the second round.  

• Wong posted her 133rd career start, which sets a program record and surpasses Maggie Krick's mark of 132 from 2006-10.  

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