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Women's
Basketball
ISU
Hosts Loyola on Thursday Night
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[November 29, 2007]
NORMAL -- Illinois State (4-1)
looks to rebound from its first loss of the season when it takes on
Loyola-Chicago (1-4) at Redbird Arena on Thursday at 7:05 p.m. The
Redbirds, who received votes in the Associated Press Top 25 poll for
the second consecutive week, will look for a win to begin a stretch
of three games in six days.
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 Illinois State had its undefeated start to the season snapped
against nationally ranked DePaul on Sunday, 80-75. Despite erasing a
13-point deficit late in the second half, the Redbirds were unable
complete the comeback and surpass the Blue Demons. Junior guard
Kristi Cirone scored a season-high 25 points and made a pair of
3-pointers in the final seconds. With her nine points in the first
half, Cirone became the 23rd player in school history to eclipse
1,000 career points.
The Redbirds played tough against DePaul, a very quality
opponent, and head coach Robin Pingeton wants her team to use their
performance as a positive the rest of the season.
"The challenge against Loyola will be to come back after the loss
to DePaul with the same intensity that we have all season," Pingeton
said. "We have a veteran team and I don't think that will be that
big of a problem, but we will have to see. We may not have beaten
DePaul, but this is another game against an in-state opponent and we
want to play well against all Illinois teams."
Illinois State has won the four all-time meetings with Loyola,
including wins in each of the last three seasons. After a commanding
108-42 victory in the first meeting in 1978, the series did not
continue until 2004. ISU has won all four games by an average
scoring margin of 26.8 points.
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After defeating Robert Morris 67-52 to open the season, Loyola
has lost its last four games by an average of 20.2 points per game.
The last two losses came to in-state foes Chicago State and
Northwestern. The Ramblers are led by a pair of sophomores in
forward Elyse VanBogaert and Maggie McCloskey. VanBogaert leads the
team with 13.6 points per game, while McCloskey is right behind her
with a 13.2 scoring average. Freshman forward Brittany Boeke has
made quite an impact in her first season, averaging 7.0 points and a
team-best 7.0 rebounds per game.
There is a rather unique connection that links Illinois State and
Loyola. Redbird junior forward Brea Banks and Loyola sophomore guard
Keisha Collins were teammates at Marian Catholic High School, where
they were coached by Shannon Reidy, now the head coach at Loyola.
While at Marion Catholic together, the trio led the Spartans to an
84-15 record and two IHSA state finals. After Banks and Collins
graduated in 2005, Reidy left Marian Catholic for Loyola. Collins
transferred to Loyola after playing her freshman season at Southern
Indiana and sitting out last year.
[Text from file received from
Jimmy Knodel,
assistant media relations director,
Illinois
State University]
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