LAS VEGAS, Nevada – The vibes were immaculate for the Illinois State women’s basketball program Saturday night as the Redbirds looked to secure a spot in the UNLV Thanksgiving Tournament championship. After defeating UC San Diego on Friday, it would be the Lady Techsters of Louisiana Tech standing in ISU’s way. However, thanks to strong defense throughout the first three quarters, Illinois State walked away with their second straight 17-point win in Vegas, this time by a final of 70-53 to advance to Sunday’s championship.
The night would be also be highlighted by the shooting of graduate student Mary Crompton, who became the new all-time career leader in all-time three-pointers during the third quarter, overtaking former ISU All-American Kristi Cirone’s previous program record of 229.
Along with Crompton’s record-breaking night, for the first time in 49 years, the Redbirds have started a season 5-0 for the first time since the 1973-74 season, which is the only other time ISU has started any season with this record.
👀 4️⃣9️⃣ 👀
For the first time since 1973-74, the Redbirds are 5-0 to start a season.#TogetherWeWill pic.twitter.com/cMm5HSs9nd
— Illinois State Women’s Basketball (@RedbirdWBB) November 27, 2022
The game got underway, and it only took 50 seconds for Paige Robinson to get started, as she scored the first two Redbird buckets with a triple at 9:50 and a jumper at 7:19 to give ISU an early 5-0 lead. Fellow graduate student Mary Crompton joined in with a triple of her own, making it 8-0 ISU and forcing a Louisiana Tech timeout.
The lead would grow to 10 before the Lady Techsters got on the board with 4:45 left as Amaya Brannon netted a layup. However, the rest of the first would go the way of the ‘Birds as they outscored their opponents 6-4 to hold a double-digit lead after the first 10 minutes.
Illinois State would score four more points to make it a 20-6 margin before the Lady Techsters cut the lead down to 10 with a pair of buckets themselves. The largest deficit of the second quarter came with 2:15 left as Ta’Shonna Wright-Gaskins would take a Mary Crompton assist and make it 26-13 in favor of the Redbirds. The Lady Techsters scored the last four points of the half, cutting the lead to nine as the clock hit zeros and the teams went into the halftime break.
At the halftime break, for the second straight day Paige Robinson led all scorers with her 12 while Jasmine McGinnis-Taylor contributed three boards to lead the ‘Birds in that category. For the Lady Techsters, a quartet of athletes would have four points at the break, while Amaya Brannon and Anna Larr Roberson both held four rebounds after 20 minutes.
The third quarter started out as any Illinois State fan would love to see as Mary Crompton stepped up and knocked down a triple with 7:09 remaining to make it 31-22 Redbirds. This would tie Crompton with Illinois State All-American Kristi Cirone’s program record of 229 career three-pointers. However, the Iowa City native was not done as she would knock down yet another triple nearly 30 seconds later, with 6:36 remaining, to become the new ISU all-time career leader for three-pointers made. From that point forward, the third would see the Redbirds outscore their opponents by a 20-10 margin, including only allowing eight points in the final six minutes of the frame.
The final frame would see neither team not score for the first 1:39 as DeAnna Wilson stretched the ISU lead to 24 (56-32) with a layup at the 8:21 mark. Wilson would score the next five Redbird points before Jada Stinson added a layup of her own with 4:52 remaining to make the lead 21 for the Redbirds. The remainder of the period saw ISU score seven more points as the game winded down to its final 17-point differential.
For the Lady Techsters, Amaya Brannon led the way with 11 points as the lone athlete to be in double digits for Louisiana Tech. Meanwhile, Anna Larr Roberson led the way with seven rebounds.
IN THE BOX SCORE:
- With the win, Illinois State (5-0, 0-0 MVC) becomes the first Redbird program to start a season with five straight wins since 1973-74.
- Mary Crompton knocked down five triples, allowing herself to become the new ISU career leader as she overcame Kristi Cirone’s record of 229 career three-pointers, as she stands with 232 now.
- Paige Robinson once more led the Redbirds in scoring, finishing with 19 points off 8-12 shooting, adding six rebounds and four assists on Saturday.
- Crompton finished the night with 15 points, including 5-8 from behind the arc. She would also add two assists on the night.
- The other Redbird in double digits for ISU beyond Robinson and Crompton was Ta’Shonna Wright-Gaskins, who finished with 10 points.
UP NEXT
Illinois State is back for the final day of the UNLV Thanksgiving Tournament on Sunday. Thanks to their two wins, Illinois State will play for the UNLV Thanksgiving Tournament Championship against host school, UNLV (6-0, 0-0 Mountain West), on Sunday at 6:00 p.m. CT from the Cox Pavilion.
In their series history against the Rebels, Illinois State won the lone series meeting during the 1987-88 season.
For all latest on Illinois State women’s basketball, stay tuned at GoRedbirds.com and follow the team at @RedbirdWBB (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram).
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