NORMAL, Ill. — Illinois State torched the Redbird Arena nets all afternoon Saturday and outscored Missouri State 13-0 over a four-minute stretch of the second half to secure a 78-59 victory over the Lady Bears to run its win streak to seven games. The Redbirds shot .574 (31-of-54) from the field—a season high for a Missouri State opponent—and got 19 points from Katie Broadway, who paced an ISU attack that featured four players in double digits.
The Lady Bears (17-8, 8-5 MVC) whittled a 16-point deficit down to five early in the second half, but Illinois State dominated down the stretch, holding MSU to just 14 points over the final 12:16 to improve to 12-0 at home.
MSU fought back behind
Casey Garrison’s five straight points in the opening minutes of the second half to pull to within five points. The junior guard converted a baseline jumper with 13:38 to play, then sank her first three-pointer of the game on MSU’s next possession to draw the Lady Bears to within 48-43. Shala Jackson answered for ISU with a jumper in the paint, before
Jasmine Malone knocked one down from short range to once again make it a five-point game.
But that’s when Illinois State (17-6, 9-3 MVC) kicked its offense into high gear, reeling off 13 unanswered points to put the game out of reach. After Broadway started the outburst with a layup, Jackson and Amanda Clifton added baskets to hike the Redbird lead back into double digits. Then, Hannah Spanich tallied seven straight points, including a back-breaking three to cap the run with 7:57 to play that pushed the margin to 63-45.
Missouri State would get no closer than 17 the rest of the way, as Illinois State shot a blistering .593 (16-of-27) from the floor in the second half and forced 17 Lady Bear turnovers in all to eventually lead by as many as 22.
One of the Missouri Valley Conference’s hottest teams coming into the game, Illinois State rode a .556 first-half shooting performance to build a 38-29 halftime lead. The Redbirds got 13 points from Emily Hanley and a trio of three-pointers from Broadway off the bench over the game’s first 20 minutes. ISU, which connected on 5-of-8 (.625) attempts from beyond the arc, outscored MSU 23-5 over a span of eight minutes to turn a two-point deficit into a 27-11 advantage.
Both teams came out of the locker room firing on all cylinders, combining to hit seven of their first 10 field goal attempts over the first four minutes of the ball game. Missouri State grabbed a 6-4 lead on the first of Garrison’s five first-half field goals with 17:20 left on the clock, but the Redbirds would answer with a Jackson basket that would kick-off a 9-0 spurt. Hanley buried a triple to cap the run, but ISU wasn’t quite finished. After MSU pulled to within 14-8 on a Malone steal and layup, Hanley poured home five straight points, and Clifton drilled a trey with just under 12 minutes left to stretch the lead to 22-10.
A Kenyatta Shelton bucket followed by the first of Broadway’s three-point field goals made it a 27-11 contest, matching ISU’s biggest lead of the period.
The Lady Bears briefly pulled to within 12 on field goals from Garrison and Malone, but ISU would answer back with another Broadway three and a Shelton basket to extend its lead back to 16.
Four unanswered points by the Lady Bears cut the lead down to 10 once again, as Garrison and
Jaleshia Roberson converted from the field for MSU.
But Broadway came up with another big triple to push the ISU lead to 37-24, and Hanley would add a free throw at the 2:56 mark to complete the Redbirds’ first-half scoring. Missouri State would close to within single digits in the closing minutes, as Roberson knocked down the Lady Bears’ first three-pointer of the game, and
Kendra Roberts and
Regan Soldner added free throws in the final minute of play.
ISU finished 7-of-13 (.538) from three-point range, led by Broadway’s 3-of-6 effort. Hanley also posted a strong afternoon, totaling 17 points on 7-of-10 shooting, while Jackson (14 points) and Clifton (11) also notched double-digit scoring days.
Garrison led MSU with 19 points, and
Christiana Shorter added 15, as well as a game-high seven boards.
Next up, Missouri State will wrap up its three-game road swing with a Thursday (Feb. 17) evening tilt at Wichita State. Tip-off for the game which will be featured live on Fox Sports Midwest and the MVC TV network is slated for 5:35 p.m.
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