Women's
Basketball
Redbirds' Road Dominance Continues With Win Over Wichita State
Send a link to a friend
[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.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2008/Jan/28/images/ads/current/culligan%20bca%20073007.png)
"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."
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2008/Jan/28/images/ads/current/bassett-bcard_ad-123006.png)
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.
[to top of second column]
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2008/Jan/28/images/ads/current/logancountyhardware-bch-082107.png) |
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2008/Jan/28/images/ads/current/friendship-manor-lda-011207.jpg)
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]
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2008/Jan/28/images/ads/current/mary_todd_super-weekend_012508.png) |