Katy Winge led the Redbirds with 19 points (Photo courtesy of GoRedbirds.com)
By WJBC staff
CARBONDALE, Ill. – The Illinois State women’s basketball team was firing on all cylinders, as it defeated Southern Illinois, 69-54, Saturday at SIU Arena. Three Redbirds scored in double figures, while ISU shot a season-best 53 percent from the field.
Katy Winge led the Redbirds with 19 points, while Octavia Crump was close behind with 18. Lindsay Smith shot 50 percent from the field, netting 12 points. ISU (2-27, 2-16 MVC) controlled in the boards in the game, pulling down 41, while SIU (17-12, 10-8 MVC) collected 26 rebounds. Crump led the Redbirds with four steals
“I thought our players played a complete 40 minutes in the game,” head coach Barb Smith said. “I saw things out of them I haven’t seen all year, and they did a great job. Our goal was to get inside, and we had 38 points in the paint. We kept taking it inside and our posts did great. I told them at halftime we might be leading because of our offense, but we are going to win because of our defense, and we had great defense in the second half.”
ISU had a quick start to the game, as the Redbirds jumped ahead to a 6-0 lead over the first two minutes of the contest. Illinois State suffered a three-minute scoring drought, but it didn’t faze the Redbirds, as they used a 12-2 run to take an 18-6 advantage eight minutes into the game. During the run, ISU netted eight-straight points, shooting 5-of-5 from the field.
The Redbirds kept the offensive momentum, as they continued to find the bottom of the net. ISU took a 12-point lead, 32-20, at the six minute mark. Illinois State was 9-of-11 from the field, followed by nine-straight points from Crump to increase ISU’s lead to 13 points, 41-30, with 1:09 remaining in the half. Southern Illinois was able to find its rhythm late, sinking six-straight field goals to end the half, but ISU went into the locker room with a 43-30 advantage.
The 43 points were the most points scored by the Redbirds in an opening half this season, as ISU drained 62 percent of its shot attempts before the break. Crump led the Redbirds with 12 points, while Winge added 11, as nine players scored in the first half. Illinois State also had a convincing lead on the boards, pulling down 20 compared to Southern Illinois’ eight rebounds.
The Salukis scored six-straight points to open the second half, but the Redbirds responded with a 10-0 run to increase their lead, 53-36, while SIU was scoreless for six minutes. Illinois State jumped out to its largest lead of the game, 59-40, after netting four-straight points with nine minutes left to play.
Southern Illinois scored seven-straight points, as the Salukis pulled within 12 points, 59-47, with 6:44 remaining in the contest. The Redbirds ended the game with a 10-7 run, as they grabbed the 69-54 win.
ISU looks toward the 2015 Missouri Valley Conference Women’s Basketball Tournament. The Redbirds play Thursday at 7:07 p.m., as the 10 seed in St. Charles, Missouri, at Family Arena.
