Indiana State (2-3) at New Orleans (2-3) & Tulane (3-3)
December 5 & 6, 2008 :: 8:00 pm & 5:30 pm (EDT) :: Lakefront Arena & Fogelman Arena
Radio ? WSDM 92.7 FM
TV ? GoSycamores.com (PPV) ? New Orleans Game Only
The Basics ? Indiana State travels to New Orleans this weekend to take part in the Big Easy Classic. ISU begins play on Friday with an 8:00 p.m. (EDT) tip-off at New Orleans and then continues on Saturday with a 5:30 p.m. contest at Tulane. The Sycamores are coming off a narrow overtime loss earlier in the week to Arkansas State. ISU has won each of its last two road contests.
New Orleans Series Notes ? Indiana State and New Orleans will be facing each other for the first time. The game against the Privateers will be the second consecutive one against a member of the Sun Belt Conference, as the Sycamores took on Arkansas State on Tuesday night. All-time ISU is 3-2 against members of the Sun Belt.
Tulane Series Notes ? Indiana State and Tulane are also meeting each other for the first time on the hardwood.
On The Air ? This weekend's contests can be heard live on WSDM 92.7 FM in the Wabash Valley. Brent Holl calls the action while Ace Hunt provides color commentary. The game can also be heard live via the internet at crock927.com and GoSycamores.com. The Jim Wiedie Coaches' Show airs on Thursday nights during the non-conference portion of the schedule, with the next broadcast coming on December 4 live on ESPN Radio 1300 AM.
About The Indiana State Coach ? Indiana State head coach Jim Wiedie is in his ninth year at the helm of the Sycamore women's basketball program. The 2003 and 2006 Missouri Valley Conference Coach of the Year, Wiedie led the Sycamores to the conference's outright regular season championship in 2006 and has guided ISU into the postseason in three of the last five years. He is 143-95 at Indiana State, and has never faced off against either New Orleans or Tulane.
About The New Orleans Coach ? New Orleans is led by sixth year head coach Amy Champion. She is 29-91 at UNO and has never faced Indiana State.
About The Tulane Coach ? Tulane is led by 15th-year head coach Lisa Stockton and carries a career record of 285-144 into the weekend. Stockton has never faced Indiana State.
Wiedie In Non-Conference Games ? The Sycamores have compiled a 49-26 record in regular season non-conference games under Jim Wiedie, including a 23-6 mark in regular season non-conference games played at Hulman Center.
Wiedie In Conference Games ? 2008-09 will mark the ninth conference season for Jim Wiedie at the helm of the Sycamores. In The Valley, Wiedie is 86-58, highlighted by his 16-2 championship season in 2005-06 as well as a pair of 13-5 finishes in 2002-03 (shared regular season title) and 2004-05. At Hulman Center, Wiedie is nearly unstoppable, boasting a 54-17 mark in regular season home MVC games, including three 8-1 seasons. In two of the past three seasons, Wiedie led the Sycamores to back-to-back eight win conference home records. Wiedie's 86 Missouri Valley Conference victories are the most conference triumphs by a Sycamore head coach, and are also the most by any active coach in the league. His 86 career MVC victories rank eighth all-time in Valley history. He needs two more Valley victories to tie Eastern Illinois' Barbara Hilke for seventh.
Cooley Posts First Career Double-Double ? Sophomore center Kelsie Cooley scored 12 points and pulled down 10 rebounds against Arkansas State to record her first career double-double, and the first by a Sycamore this season. Cooley hit 4-of-4 attempts from the free throw line and added a pair of blocked shots as well as three steals versus the Red Wolves.
Shooting For 72 ? The Indiana State Sycamore defense should shoot to hold opponents under 72 points a game. The Sycamores are a perfect 2-0 on the season when holding the opposition to 72 points or less.
Comeback Nearly Complete ? Indiana State overcame a one-point halftime deficit at Southeast Missouri State last week to earn a 75-72 road victory and the Sycamores found themselves down 43-28 at the intermission of Tuesday night's game against Arkansas State. The Sycamores owned a 63-60 advantage with just over three seconds on the clock versus the Red Wolves and had held them to a paltry 17 points in coming all the way back to take the lead during the second half. ASU's Shania Hurst hit her only 3-pointer of the game as the buzzer sounded to knot the game and send ISU to its first overtime contest of the season. ISU fell in the extra period as the amazing comeback fell just short, which snapped a three-game overtime winning streak for the Sycamores dating back to last season.
The Fresh Faces Of Freshmen ? Indiana State's roster features seven freshmen this season and they are making an immediate impact on the Sycamore women's basketball program. Paced by Deja Mattox, who is averaging 10.0 points as well as 4.2 rebounds per game, the freshmen have accounted for 121 of ISU's 353 total points scored, or 34.2 percent.
Looking For Early Season Tournament Success ? It's always the highlight of the non-conference schedule when the Indiana State Sycamores participate in an early season tournament. This year's Big Easy Classic will pit New Orleans, Tulane and Jackson State together in a round-robin format. ISU will play at New Orleans on Friday and then travel cross-town on Saturday to take on Tulane. The Sycamores are looking to go 2-0 in a non-conference early season tournament for the first time since downing Long Island and Fairfield at the Nassau Bahamas Shootout in 1998.
Leah Phillips Named MVC Player of the Week ? Indiana State senior guard Leah Phillips has been named the Missouri Valley Conference's Player of the Week for the first time in her career. Phillips scored a career-high 27 points, hitting 9-of-12 shots from the field, including a sparking 6-of-8 mark from behind the 3-point line to lead ISU to a thrilling 75-72 victory over SEMO. Phillips added a pair of steals in 37 minutes of action. She hit back-to-back 3-pointers in the first half to help ISU erase an early 10-point deficit and another triple with under four minutes left in the game which knotted the score. Against Detroit, she hit three 3-point field goals en route to 15 points in the ISU win. Phillips was a perfect 4-of-4 from the free throw line and pulled down four rebounds, dished out four assists and recorded a steal against Detroit, which had just beaten No. 23 Georgia only four days earlier. For the week, Phillips hit 13-of-22 shots from the field (59.1 percent) and connected on 9-of-17 shots from long range (52.9 percent). She was 7-of-8 from the free throw line (87.5 percent) and pulled down 2.5 rebounds, dished out 2.0 assists and recorded 1.5 steals per game. The honor for Phillips is the first weekly plaudit in her Sycamore career. She is the first Sycamore to earn Valley Player of the Week honors since Kelsey Luna did so following the ISU victory over nationally-ranked Vanderbilit last year.
TAG! You're It, No, You're It! ? Senior Leah Phillips and junior Kelsey Luna are both climbing the Sycamore record book in career 3-point field goals made. Phillips continues to hold a narrow lead in the record books over Luna as she has 159 3-pointers while Luna is right behind with 157. Phillips currently holds the fifth-place spot while Luna is sixth. They both are chasing down April Kirby, who is in fourth place with 166 career 3-pointers.
14 And Counting ? Ninth-year Indiana State head coach Jim Wiedie enters the Big Easy Classic contest with 143 career victories, needing just 14 more to catch Edith Godleski for the school record to become the school's all-time winningest coach by both total wins and percentage. Catching Godleski would be no small feat, as she will be inducted into the Indiana State Athletics Hall of Fame this winter. Godleski coaches the Sycamores for the first 11 seasons of the program from 1971-82.
Academic Run Continues ? For the seventh consecutive season, the Indiana State women's basketball program was noted for its high academic achievements under head coach Jim Wiedie. The Sycamore women's basketball team finished ranked third in the most recent Women's Basketball Coaches Association Top 25 Team Honor Roll for NCAA Division I in team grade point average with a stellar mark of 3.59.
The Last Time Out ? The Indiana State Sycamores fought their way back from a 15-point deficit against Arkansas State and saw the game go into overtime on a last second three-point Red Wolf buzzer beater, but could not capitalize in the overtime period as they lost 76-68 on the Nellie & John Wooden Court at Hulman Center.
Freshman Deja Mattox scored the first two buckets of the game for the Sycamores and assisted on the third. Mattox hit a short jumper in the paint for the first points of the game and nailed a three-point basket from the left wing to give the Sycamores a 5-2 lead about three minutes into the first half. After the Red Wolves got two points from Brittney Hiles on a jumper outside of the lane, Mattox penetrated near the top of the lane and found Kelsie Cooley under the basket who laid the ball in for a 7-4 Sycamore advantage with 16:32 showing on the clock.
After Mattox went 1-for-2 at the free-throw line, the Red Wolves went on a 13-0 run in under four minutes. Back-to-back three-point baskets by Caroline Starr put the visitors up 12-8 for their first lead of the game. A few free-throws, a Veronica Smith layup, and a Lyndsay Schlup jumper gave the Red Wolves their largest lead of the game thus far at 19-8 with just under eleven minutes remaining in the half.
The Sycamores began to chip away at their 11-point deficit, scoring seven straight. Kelsey Luna nailed a three-pointer and Kara Schilli and Cooley added baskets of their own to pull within four.
Arkansas State's Elyseia Dunn converted a layup at 8:24 but two free-throw baskets by Shannon Thomas and a Leah Phillips layup brought the Sycamores within two at 19-21. About 25 seconds later, the game was tied at 21-all on a Bianca Jarrett jumper.
The Sycamores saw their valiant comeback fade away beginning with just six minutes remaining in the first half. The visitors went on a 12-point tear to go up 38-24 on the Sycamores, a fifteen point lead. The Sycamores scored five points in the remaining two minutes and 17 seconds with free-throw baskets by Cooley and a three-point bucket by Jarrett. Unfortunately, the Red Wolves matched those five points on a Dunn layup and a Smith three-pointer to go into half with a 43-28 lead.
Starr led all scorers with 15 first-half points, going 5-for-7 from behind the arc. The Red Wolves received 29 points from their bench, compared to nine for the Sycamores. Jarrett paced the Sycamores in the first half with seven points, followed by Mattox and Cooley who added six each.
The second half began and buckets were traded back-and-forth for both teams until about four minutes in when the Sycamores scored four straight on buckets by Thomas and two free-throws from Mattox.
The Red Wolves then scored four straight points of their own on back-to-back jumpers from Ebonie Jefferson and Schlup putting the score at 50-36 with 13 minutes remaining in the game.
And then the Sycamores tried to duplicate what they did in the first half ? come back from being down by a respectable margin. Eight straight points by the Sycamores that included three consecutive layups by Schilli, Phillips, and Thomas, brought the team within six at 50-44 with 10:25 remaining.
Jefferson tried to keep her team in the lead with a layup and two free-throws, but the Sycamore squad was too much to handle.
Luna added a three-pointer, followed by a Mattox layup, and a 2-for-2 showing at the free-throw line by Cooley to pull within three points. With 6:40 remaining, Cooley added two more points with a layup and then Phillips gave her team their first lead, 56-54, since the beginning of the first half when she drained a three-point bucket to ignite the Hulman Center crowd.
Buckets were again exchanged between both teams until the clock showed one minute remaining with the score even at 60-60.
Schilli was fouled on back-to-back Sycamore possessions and went 2-for-4 at the free-throw line to put the home team up by two points, 62-60. Luna took her turn at the line next and went 1-for-2 putting the Sycamores up by three with just under five seconds remaining in the game.
It appeared as if the Sycamores would pull off the improbable come-from-behind victory, but a buzzer beating 21-foot three-point basket by Shania Hurst, who before that basket had zero points, sent the game into overtime tied at 63-63.
To begin the five-minute overtime period, Hurst knocked down a short jumper in the lane to give the Red Wolves a 65-63 lead. Shortly after, Cooley tied the ballgame up 65-65 when she drove to the basket and converted a layup at 3:44.
The Sycamores nearly went up by two when Luna found Cooley under the basket but a missed layup led to a Red Wolf bucket by Hiles to put the score at 67-65 in favor of the visitors.
The Red Wolves went on to score eight straight points and a total of 13 in the overtime period compared to just five for the Sycamores as they stole a 76-68 victory from Indiana State.
Mattox lead the Sycamores with 14 total points, four rebounds, and three assists. Cooley also had a solid double-double performance as she contributed 12 points and ten rebounds. Phillips and Luna also combined for 23 points.
The visiting Red Wolves received 18 points from Starr, 12 from Jefferson, and 11 from Smith. Over half (42) of the Red Wolves 76 points came from their bench.
Up Next ? After this weekend's Big Easy Classic, the Sycamores will take a week off for Final Exams and then get back into the swing of things on Saturday, December 13 at Ball State. Tip-off from the Worthen Arena is set for 7:00 p.m. (EDT).
