NOMAL– The Illinois State Redbirds avenged their 67-53  January 6th loss against the Indiana Stat Sycamores Friday night.  They beat the Sycamores 78 to 67 behind leading scorer Katie Broadway who received an award for her 1000th career point. Broadway led the way for the Redbirds scoring 18 of her 26 points in the first half.

Early on the game was tightly contested, with both teams forcing a lot of turnovers.  Broadway and Sycamore guard Brittnay Scheon went shot for shot carrying both teams’ offenses throughout the first half.  Scheon nearly matched Broadway’s performance with 15 points of her own in the first half.

For the beginning of the second half, it started out just like the first, with teams trading basket for basket. Jamie Russell left the game early in the second half with an apparent arm injury. After she returned to the game she sparked the Redbird offense scoring 15 of her 17 points in the second half.

As close as Indiana State got, they were never able to get over that hump to tie or take the lead. 23 turnovers were part of the problem and that led to 26 points off turnovers for the Redbirds.

The Redbirds have now won four of their last five conference games and now move into a tie for second place in the valley. Meanwhile Indiana State has lost six in a row in Valley play. Illinois State Redbirds will face fellow second seeded Northern Iowa next Friday at home.

–Kevin Madeira