EVANSVILLE, Ind. – Illinois State came out of the locker room at halftime red hot, shooting 60 percent from the field in the second half against Evansville to pick up an 88-75 win on Sunday at Meeks Family Fieldhouse. Led by a career-high 23 points from Grace Nelson and 21 points from Addison Martin, the Redbirds (15-10, 9-5 MVC) were able to outlast a hot-shooting Aces (6-20, 4-11 MVC) team in the first half to secure their 18th win a row against UE.
HOW IT HAPPENEDÂ
•   Evansville jumped out to a quick 4-0 over the first minute of the game, before Illinois State went on a 6-0 run on baskets by Martin, Doneelah Washington and Kya Hurt to go up 6-4 with 6:49 left.
•   After a three-pointer by Evansville gave the Purple Aces a 7-6 lead, Washington drilled back-to-back three pointers to put the Redbirds up 12-7 at the midway mark of the first quarter.
•   The Aces then went on a 9-0 run over the next two minutes to take a 16-12 lead and later went up by six on another three-pointer to make it 19-13 with 2:44 left. A layup by hurt would then trim the lead to four at 19-15, before Evansville went on a 7-0 run to force ISU head coach Kristen Gillespie a timeout with 1:07 left. Martin scored the final three points of the quarter for the Redbirds to cut the Aces lead back to single digits at 26-18 headed to the second quarter.
•   Nelson drilled a three-pointer out of the break to start off the second quarter strong, and a three-point play by Jaeden Pratt would trim the lead to just three at 28-25 two minutes into the quarter. A fastbreak jumper by Washington would then get the Redbirds with one at 28-27, before the Aces went back up by three after a made jumper. Washington was back at it with a jumper to again cut it one, before Martin gave the Redbirds their first lead since 12:11 of the first quarter at 31-30 with 6:37 left before halftime.
•   Evansville retook the lead late in the second quarter with an 11-0 run to take a 43-35 lead with a minute to go before halftime, before Nelson drilled her second three-pointer of the game and Martin made a layup in the final 60 seconds to cut the Aces lead to 43-40 at the break.
•   The Aces would go up by as much as six points at 50-44 on a three-pointer, before the Redbirds answered with five-straight points on a layup by Martin and Nelson's third triple of the game to cut the lead to one at 50-49 with 4:43 left in the third quarter. Coming out of the media time out, Trista Fayta gave the Redbirds the lead once again on a driving layup to make it 51-50 in favor of the Redbirds.
•   A 6-0 run by Evansville would give the Aces the lead back at 56-51, before six-straight points by the Redbirds would give them the lead back at 57-56 with under a minute left in the third quarter. A layup at buzzer by Washington would then give ISU a three-point advantage at 59-56 with 10 minutes to play.
•   The Redbirds opened the fourth quarter with Nelson's fourth three-point make of the contest and a three by Bella Finnegan would give their largest lead of the game at 65-58 with 7:58 to play. Nelson would then tie a career-high with her fifth trey of the game to force Evansville to call a time out with ISU up 68-58 forty seconds later. Finnegan would then make it three triples in a row to widen the lead to make it 71-58, before Evansville made just its second basket of the quarter to bring the score to 71-60.
•   ISU would maintain a 12-point lead at 80-68 after a layup by Hurt with just over two minutes left, before Evansville would trim the lead back to single digits at 80-72 before the Redbirds would ice the game at the free throw line to come away with the 88-75 victory.
HIGHLIGHTSÂ
•   After shooting 66.7 percent from the field in the first half, the Redbird defense forced Evansville to shoot just 39.3 percent in the second half … in contrast, the Redbirds shot 60 percent from the field in the final 20 minutes of play and 50 percent from 3-point range.
•   The Redbirds hit nine three-pointers in the contest, including four in the fourth quarter, which is their most since Jan. 4 when they made 10 at Belmont.
•   Nelson led the Redbirds with a career-high 23 points and tied her career-best with five three-pointers in the contest … she topped her previous career-high of 20 points scored at Belmont, when she also made five three-pointers.
•   Martin finished the game with 21 points, which marked her third 20-point effort of the season and first since Nov. 26 when she scored 22 against Rice at the Puerto Rico Shootout. She also added eight rebounds and four assists to round out a solid effort against the Aces.
•   Washington rounded out a trio of Redbirds in double figures with 18 points and nearly posted a double-double with nine rebounds and two steals in the win.
•   Fayta nearly finished with a double-double of her own, as she dished out a career-high 12 assists and scored nine points while tallying five steals to lead the Redbird offense.
•   Finnegan hit a pair of big threes off the bench in the second half to spark the Redbird comeback and has now made multiple shots from beyond the arch in four-straight contests.
UP NEXTÂ
The Redbirds are back home on Friday, when they host Belmont (16-9, 12-2 MVC) for a big contest at CEFCU Arena. Tipoff is slated for 6:30 p.m. CT and fans are encouraged to wear black to the game against the Bruins.
GoRedbirds.com and the Illinois State Redbirds App: Your sources for Illinois State tickets, Weisbecker Athletic Fund gifts, multimedia, Redbird merchandise, photos and more.
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