March 24, 2009

Box Score

NORMAL, Ill. -- Maggie Krick scored 25 points and Kristi Cirone added 22 points to lead Illinois State to a 73-59 win over Louisiana Tech Tuesday night at Redbird Arena in the second round of the Women's National Invitation Tournament.

With the loss, LA Tech's season comes to an end with the Lady Techsters winning nine of their last 11 games while Illinois State (25-7) advances to the third round of the WNIT to face Marquette.

The Redbirds jumped out to a 17-2 lead to start the game before the Lady Techsters (21-13) fought back to tie the game at 28-28 at the half. The key to LA Tech's first half run was its ability to rebound as the Lady Techsters outrebounded the Redbirds 20-7 over the final 14 minutes of the opening stanza.

"We simply dug ourselves a big hole early," said Tech head coach Teresa Weatherspoon. "You can't do that against a great basketball team like Illinois State. Now, I was proud that our young ladies found it within themselves to fight out of that hole. It took a lot of composure on their part to do that."

The two teams traded buckets early in the second half and a Brietta Thomas three-point field goal at the 15:34 mark gave the Lady Techsters their first and only lead of the night at 35-34.

With Illinois State leading 49-45, the Redbirds used a game-clinching 14-5 run which was spearheaded by the play of Kricks and Cirone who combined to score 30 points after intermission, including nine in the game-ending run.

Whitney Jones led Tech with 21 points while Illinois State held Shanavia Dowdell and Adrienne Johnson to only nine and six points respectively.

Tech shot 35 percent (23-65) for the game, including 7-of-25 from the three-point line while the Redbirds hit 44 percent (26-59) of their field goals. Illinois State outrebounded LA Tech 42-36.

Nicolle Lewis added 12 points and 11 rebounds for the Redbirds.