Mid-Major Top 25 Programs Collide When Illinois State Hosts Green Bay On Wednesday

SETTING THE SCENE
The second week of action for Illinois State starts with a tough contest at home against one of the premier mid-major programs in the country, as the Redbirds (3-0) host the Green Bay Phoenix (1-1) Wednesday night in non-conference action at CEFCU Arena. Tipoff is set for 6:30 p.m. CT and the game can be seen on ESPN+.

THE FASTBREAK
• The Redbirds are off to a 3-0 start for the first time since the 2022-23 season.
• Down by 11 points in the fourth quarter, Illinois State used a 14-0 run over the four-plus minutes of action to regain the lead late against Dayton on Thursday night. The Flyers would come back to tie the game and it would head to overtime, where Trista Fayta took over and scored five of her game-high 28 points to will the Redbirds to a 91-87 overtime victory over the Flyers (1-0) at the UD Arena.
• Four Redbirds finished the game in double figures, led by Fayta's career-high 28 points. Hannah Chicken posted a double double with 19 points and 13 rebounds, while Nevaeh Thomas scored 20 plus points for the second-straight game. Mporokoso finished with 11 to round out the double figure scorers for the Redbirds.
• The Redbirds were picked second in the annual Missouri Valley Conference women's basketball preseason poll Murray State, which is coming off back-to-back regular-season and tournament titles, was picked as the preseason favorite after receiving 41 of 44 possible first-place votes and 477 total points. The Redbirds were picked to finish second in the poll with 396 points, while Belmont picked up a pair of first-place votes and 375 total points to place third. 
• Illinois State secured a 20-win campaign for the fourth-consecutive season under head coach Kristen Gillespie in 2025-26, marking the first time since 2007-08 to 2010-11 that the program has earned four 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.
• For the sixth-straight season, Illinois State played in the postseason as the Redbirds competed in the 28th annual Postseason WNIT. The Redbirds advanced all the way to the championship game, before falling to Marshall.

SERIES VS. GREEN BAY
Illinois State and Green Bay will meet for the ninth time in program history, with the Phoenix holding a 6-2 lead in the all-time series. Green Bay has won the last two meetings between the two teams, with the last game being played on Nov. 11, 2023, in Green Bay that was an 88-62 win for the Phoenix. ISU won its only games in back-to-back season in 2007-08, with a win each in Normal and Green Bay. 

SCOUTING THE PHOENIX
• The Phoenix were the top team in the Mid-Major Top 25 poll announced before the season, following a season where they went 25-9 overall, won the Horizon League Championship and advanced to the NCAA Tournament.
• Green Bay is 1-1 on the year, with a 76-60 loss to No. 4 Duke in the opener, and an 82-48 drubbing of Loyola Chicago on Saturday night.
• The Green Bay roster features two pairs of siblings on the roster for 2026-27. The freshman duo of twins Ady and Riley Ketterhagen each recruited out of Oostburg High School, and Julianna, and her younger sister Kristina Ouimette each return to the program. Green Bay and Lindenwood are the two programs in the country with two pairs of sisters.
• Green Bay graduated five seniors, who accounted for 48.5-percent of their points from a season ago. The Phoenix's new-look roster features three transfers and four freshmen, the largest class of incoming freshmen for Green Bay since 2021.
• The Phoenix have three players averaging in double figures to start the year, led by Madd Skorupski who leads the team at 15.0 points per game.

DOUBLE THE FUN FOR CHICKEN
• Transfer Hannah Chicken has made an immediate impact in her first three games with the Redbirds, averaging a double-double of 16.0 points and 10.3 rebounds while helping lead Illinois State to an undefeated 3-0 start. • She recorded double-doubles in each of the final two contests of the week, posting 19 points and 13 rebounds in a 91-87 road victory at Dayton before following with 20 points and 12 rebounds in a 96-54 win over Augustana. 
• Chicken shot 51.4 percent from the field for the week, totaling 48 points, 31 rebounds, six assists, three steals and three blocks.
• For her efforts, Chicken was named the MVC Newcomer of the Week (Nov. 9).

FAYTA COMES UP BIG
• When the Redbirds needed her the most, Trista Fayta came up big for ISU in the overtime win at Dayton.
• Fayta led a quartet of Redbirds in double figures with a career-high 28 points on 10-of-16 shooting from the field to go along with eight assist and eight rebounds.
• She is the only player in the country this season to have 28+ points, 8+ rebounds and 8+ assists in a single game and since 2009-10, there have been only three MVC players to post that stat line.

BACK-TO-BACK FOR THOMAS
• For the second-straight game, Nevaeh Thomas posted a 20-plus point scoring effort for ISU.
• Thomas finished with 20 points and just missed out on a double-double with nine rebounds in the win over Dayton.
• She is the first Redbird to scored 20-plus points in the first two games of the season since Jamie Russell started the 2012-13 season with a pair of 20-plus point performances.

TRIPLE DIGITS ONCE AGAIN
• The Redbirds scored 100-plus points against Chicago State for the third-straight time at CEFCU Arena in the 2026-27 season opener
… the 106 points scored are the most ever for ISU against Chicago State.
•  ISU scored nearly half of its points (50) in the paint and had 16 second-chance points … the Redbirds also got 51 points off the bench in the contest, led by the 21 from Grace Nelson.

TWO FOR THE SHOW
• For the second-straight season, the Redbirds had a pair of 20-plus point scorers in the season opener, with Nevaeh Thomas (23) and Grace Nelson (21) both finishing with 20 or more against Chicago State … last year, Doneelah Washington and Addison Martin each had 20 or more in the season opener vs. Dayton.
• The 23 points by Thomas are the most for an ISU player in an opener since Shannon Dowell also scored 23 in the 2024-25 season opener against Northwestern … Thomas also added eight rebounds in the contest to go along with three assists and two steals.
• Nelson finished just two points shy of her career high with the 21 points on a career-best 8-for-10 shooting from the field … she tied a career-high with five made three-pointers in just 18 minutes of action.

STRONG DEBUTS FOR THE FRESHMEN
• Illinois State got a couple of strong performances from highly touted freshman in the season opening with over Chicago State, as Danyella Mporokoso and Kennedy Stowers each scored in double figures in their collegiate debuts.
• Mporokoso had 16 points in her collegiate debut to go along with five assists ... she is the first ISU freshman to have 15+ points and 5+ assists in her debut since the 2009-10 season and is one of only two MVC freshmen to have that stat line in an opener since 09-10.
• Stowers tallied a double-double in her debut with 13 points and 10 boards against the Cougars ... Stowers is the only Redbird freshman to have a double-double in the opener since the 2009-10 season and currently is one of just three freshman since that time to post a double double in their collegiate debut (Abby Feit of Evansville and Tiara Wallace of Loyola the others).

BIRDS PICKED SECOND
• The Redbirds were picked second in the annual Missouri Valley Conference women's basketball preseason poll, which is voted on by Valley head coaches, communications directors and a media panel. 
• Murray State, which is coming off back-to-back regular-season and tournament titles, was picked as the preseason favorite after receiving 41 of 44 possible first-place votes and 477 total points.
• The Redbirds were picked to finish second in the poll with 396 points, while Belmont picked up a pair of first-place votes and 375 total points to place third. Northern Iowa collected the final first-place vote and 343 points and fourth place, while Drake (317) and UIC (267) rounded out the league's preseason favorites.

FOUR REDBIRDS NAMED MVC PLAYERS TO WATCH
• The Redbirds had four players named to the Missouri Valley Conference "Players to Watch" list for the upcoming 2026-27 season. 
• Returners Trista Fayta and Nevaeh Thomas were joined on the list by newcomers Chloe Spreen and Danyella Mporokoso. 
• Last season, Fayta broke the ISU single-season assist record (218) and ranked No. 8 in Division I in assists and No. 16 in assists per game (5.7). She led the MVC in both of those categories and was third in the league in assist/turnover ratio at 1.7. 
• Thomas returns after missing all but four games last season due to an injury, following a sophomore campaign in 2024-25 where she averaged 12.1 points, a team-high 7.0 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game. 
• Spreen comes to ISU after spending the previous two seasons at Alabama and Indiana, while Mporokoso begins her collegiate career after being named the 2025-26 Gatorade Illinois Girls Basketball Player of the Year.

FAYTA FINDS THEM ALL
• Trista Fayta broke the ISU single-season assist record of 203 set by Redbird Hall of Famer Kristi Cirone during the 2008-09 season by recording 218 last season
• She ranked No. 8 in Division I in assists (218) and No. 16 in assists per game (5.7) and led the MVC in both of those categories.
• She was third in the league in assist/turnover ratio at 1.7 and had five contests with double digits in assists, becoming the only Redbird since 2009-10 to have multiple games of 10+ assists in a single season.

INTERNATIONAL REDBIRD FLAIR
• The 2026-27 roster features some international flair for the Redbirds, with the additions of transfer Hannah Chicken (Australia) and freshman Christina Köppel (Austria).
• Chicken, a Taree, New South Wales, product transfered to Illinois State from Portland State, where she ranked second on the team with 11.4 points per game while leading the Vikings with a .489 field goal percentage and .413 three-point field goal percentage last season.
• Köppel, a Wolfsberg, Austria, native, 11 games during the 2025-26 season, played internationally for UBSC-DBBC Graz and averaged 10.4 points and 5.2 rebounds per game in 27.4 minutes of action per game last season.