NORMAL, Ill. – Illinois State earned a Missouri Valley Conference season-opening victory over Indiana State by draining 10 three-pointers and hitting over 50% of their shots from the field en route to an 82-73 victory in front of 3,055 fans at Redbird Arena. With the loss, the Sycamores drop to 7-3 (0-1 MVC) while the ‘Birds improve to 4-6 (1-0 MVC). 

ISU trailed 38-31 at the half, and bellied up to the Redbirds to open the second half, tying the contest at 38-all on a jump shot by Rachel Maenpaa with just over 17 minutes remaining in the game. Illinois State had the answer, never trailing in the contest, and used a 15-2 run over the next five minutes of play to take a 55-42 lead and did not look back as they managed to stay an arm’s length from the hard-charging Sycamores for the rest of the contest. 

With 52 seconds left, ISU trailed 78-72 following a pair of Kristen Weddle free throws. The Sycamore press forced a Redbird turnover as Stephanie Lisch came up with the steal of a Jaci McCormick pass. She found Lisa Verhoff in the corner, but her wide-open 3-point attempt bounded harmlessly off the rim. Lisch grabbed the offensive rebound before Anne Thatcher turned the ball over to end ISU’s final threat. Though Illinois State struggled to cap the contest at the foul line, they did connect on enough so that ISU never got closer than six in the final minute despite numerous looks that would not fall. 

Those misses were part of a 3-of-24 shooting effort for ISU from long range. While ISU took 16 more shots from the field than Illinois State, they could only hit 37.7%. 

On the other hand, Illinois State continued its string of hot shooting efforts, hitting 54.7% from the field, including a blazing mark of 10-of-19 from behind the arc. 

ISU stayed in the contest behind the spirited play of junior Ashley Clark who paced the team with a career-best 21 points while Rachel Maenpaa and Lisch added 15 each. Clark hit 10-of-18 shots for the field and pulled down seven boards. She capped off a strong effort by dishing out two assists, blocking a pair of shots and recording two steals. The Sycamores enjoyed their best outing of the year of the offensive boards, pulling down 17 and scoring 15 second chance points. 

The Sycamores would struggle in transition, giving up 12 fast break points and numerous other pull-up jump shots as part of the Redbird barrage. 

Indiana State fell inside Redbird Arena for the first time in three seasons, and lost their conference opener for only the second time in the past five years.  

The Sycamores return to action Thursday, January 6 when they travel to Creighton. Tipoff is scheduled for 8:05 p.m. (EST).

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