Women's Basketball

Top-Seeded Redbirds Start MVC Tournament Title Hunt Friday

[March 14, 2008]  NORMAL -- All of the regular-season games have been played, the seeds are set, the teams have arrived, and all that is left to do is play the games. The 2008 State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Women's Basketball Tournament begins this weekend at the Family Arena in St. Charles, Mo., and top-seeded Illinois State (23-6, 13-5 MVC) is ready to make a run at its first tournament title since 2005. While the opening round of the tournament was on Thursday, Illinois State waits until Friday to play its first game. The Redbirds will face No. 9 Southern Illinois (9-19, 5-13 MVC) in the quarterfinals at 12:05 p.m.

"We are excited for the opportunity to achieve our goal of winning the conference tournament and earning a bid to the NCAA tournament," said head coach Robin Pingeton. "The energy and intensity that everyone has brought to practice the past couple of days is incredible, and we are in early March. That is what you want to see heading into the conference tournament. Regardless of who we may face in the tournament, we will focus on what we need to do to be successful. We welcome the challenge that comes with being the top seed."

Southern Illinois defeated No. 8 Bradley 65-54 in the first game of the tournament on Thursday night. The Redbirds split the season series with the Salukis, winning 82-78 on Jan. 5 in Carbondale and losing 72-69 on March 6 in Normal.

Welcome to St. Charles!

For the first time in the 23-year history of the Missouri Valley Conference tournament, the games that decide the conference's bid to the NCAA tournament will be played at a neutral site. The Family Arena in St. Charles, Mo., is the host of the 2008 State Farm MVC Tournament and is the first non-university site of the event. The change came in part due to the fact that the host school has won the last three tournaments, despite never being seeded higher than eighth. That streak was started by Illinois State, which was the No. 8 seed in 2005 and won the title at Redbird Arena. The Valley is now one of six conferences to have their women's tournament at a neutral site. The others are the ACC, Big 12, Big Ten, SEC and Pac 10.

The view from the top

Illinois State has been the top seed in the conference tournament twice before and has reached the finals both times. The Redbirds fell to Eastern Illinois 80-79 in 1988 and beat Southern Illinois 70-53 for the Gateway Conference championship in 1989. The top seed has won 14 of the 22 conference tournament crowns in the history of the conference. However, in five of the past seven seasons, the No. 1 seed has failed to win the tournament final.

Redbirds rack up conference honors

Before the tournament began, the Valley handed out recognition for regular-season performances, and Illinois State took home several laurels. Junior guard Kristi Cirone was named the Jackie Stiles MVC Player of the Year, first-team all-conference and an all-defensive team member. Sophomore guard Maggie Krick was an honorable mention all-Valley pick, and freshman guard Shala Jackson was named to the all-freshman team. Cirone (first team), Krick (second team), and sophomore forward Ashleen Bracey (honorable mention) were all named to the MVC Scholar-Athlete Team.

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