Women's Basketball

Krick, Redbirds Sweep Bradley

[February 11, 2008]  NORMAL -- Powered behind Maggie Krick's 16 first-half points, Illinois State rolled to a 79-46, wire-to-wire Missouri Valley Conference victory over Bradley Sunday afternoon on Doug Collins Court at Redbird Arena. As part of the Women's Basketball Coaches Association Think Pink initiative, both teams participated in the event by donning pink in various ways to support the cause.

The victory gave the Redbirds a season sweep over their Interstate 74 rival, marked the sixth straight ISU victory in the series and snapped ISU's two-game losing streak. With the win, Illinois State maintains its conference lead with a 19-3 overall record and a 9-2 mark in league play. Bradley fell to 9-13 on the season and 3-8 in the Valley.

Krick led four Illinois State double-digit scorers with a game-high 18 points and added eight rebounds, which tied her season-high total. Kristi Cirone tossed in 11 points, while Nicolle Lewis and Ashleen Bracey each finished with 10 points.

The Redbirds jumped out to a 7-1 advantage thanks to a pair of baskets by Krick and Bracey and a 3-pointer by Cirone. ISU maintained a single-digit lead through the game's first 10 minutes before blowing the game wide-open.

Using a pair of 6-0 runs, ISU pushed the lead to 31-18 before Krick sank back-to-back 3s to propel the Redbirds into a 39-20 advantage with 3:59 on the clock. ISU extended its lead to 25 points, at 45-22, when Amanda Clifton stole the inbound pass with 1.2 seconds left in the half and converted the layup as time expired.

The Redbirds maintained a 20-point lead throughout the second half, and at the 10:06 mark they bumped the lead to 31 points, 66-35, on Brooke Singleton's 3-pointer. Including Singleton's trey, ISU used a 14-1 run to build the lead to 77-36 with 5:13 left in the game. The 41-point margin was ISU's largest lead this season.

ISU shot 50 percent from the field, converting 29-of-58 tries, while Bradley was held to 27.3 percent shooting from the floor. The Redbirds also outrebounded the Braves 47-27, which was the third time this season ISU has outrebounded an opponent by 20 or more boards.

Illinois State returns to action Tuesday, when the Redbirds travel to Terre Haute, Ind., to face Indiana State. Tipoff is scheduled for 7:35 p.m.

[Text from file received from John Sandberg, Illinois State University]