Women's Basketball

Redbirds' Road Dominance Continues With Win Over Wichita State

[January 28, 2008]  WICHITA, Kan. -- The road has been a comfortable place for the Illinois State women's basketball team this season. The Redbirds (17-1, 7-0 MVC) beat Wichita State (7-13, 1-7 MVC) 71-53 on Sunday as ISU tied the school record with its 11th straight road victory and extended its overall winning streak to 13 games, which is tied for the second-longest all-time. The last time the Redbirds won 11 straight road contests was 1983-84, and their last 13-game winning streak came in 1980-81.

Illinois State led the entire game and had four players score in double figures for the seventh time this season. Junior guard Kristi Cirone led the way with 15 points and seven assists. Sophomore center Nicolle Lewis and sophomore guard Maggie Krick each added 11 points, and sophomore forward Ashleen Bracey chipped in 10. Lewis also led the Redbirds with nine rebounds and three blocks. Bracey had eight rebounds and was a perfect 6-for-6 from the free-throw line, both career-high marks.

Illinois State dominated down low, holding a 36-16 advantage in points in the paint over the Shockers. Wichita State committed 18 turnovers, which turned into 25 points for ISU.

"It's a credit to our players that they could find a way to win when we weren't playing our best and things weren't always going our way," said head coach Robin Pingeton. "We were trying to bat at loose balls rather than going after them with two hands, which is something we haven't done all year. We had some sloppiness that we haven't had for a while, but like I said, good teams find a way to win in those situations. We didn't quite play at the level we had been playing at recently."

Cirone made a free throw nine seconds into the action, and the Redbirds didn't trail the entire half after that. The Redbirds maintained a one-point edge for the first three minutes before they scored 10 unanswered points to take a double-digit lead, 17-6. ISU forced four turnovers and had three fast-break layups on the run, including a behind-the-back pass from Cirone to Krick during a two-on-one break. Illinois State had six assists on its first seven field goals of the game.

A 3-pointer by DeGarmo snapped a Wichita State scoreless streak of 4:40 and started a string of seven straight points for the Shockers that cut their deficit to 17-13. The Redbirds came right back with a 15-1 run to take their biggest lead of the half, 32-14.

Wichita State went eight minutes without a field goal during the ISU run but outscored the Redbirds 9-3 in the final 3:35 of the opening frame. The Shockers still trailed by double digits at halftime, 35-23. Illinois State forced 11 turnovers in the first half, including seven steals, and scored 16 points as a result of those turnovers

The Shockers managed to pull within 10 points at the 17:48 mark of the second half, but their offense came to a halt at that point. Over the next nine minutes, Wichita State scored just eight points on 1-of-9 shooting from the field and committed three turnovers. The Redbirds maintained a comfortable lead over that stretch and were on top 52-36 with less than nine minutes remaining.

After ISU made just one 3-pointer in its first 11 attempts, Cirone and Krick each made 3s on consecutive possessions to extend the lead to 60-42. Wichita State struggled to put points on the board on consecutive possessions and was unable to come any closer than 13 points. After three consecutive free throws by sophomore forward Kenyatta Shelton and a 3-pointer by junior guard Ashley Sandstead, the Redbirds went ahead by 20 points for the first time, 67-46.

Illinois State hosts Drake on Thursday at 7:05 p.m.

[Text from file received from Jimmy Knodel, assistant media relations director, Illinois State University]