Evansville Purple Aces (9-24, 7-15 MVC) vs. Illinois State Redbirds (20-12, 14-7 MVC)
Coralville, Iowa; Saturday, 5 p.m. EDT
BOTTOM LINE: Illinois State takes on Evansville in the MVC Tournament.
The Redbirds’ record in MVC play is 14-7, and their record is 6-5 in non-conference games. Illinois State is eighth in the MVC with 8.6 offensive rebounds per game led by Doneelah Washington averaging 2.9.
The Purple Aces’ record in MVC action is 7-15. Evansville is 5-13 in games decided by at least 10 points.
Illinois State is shooting 44.3% from the field this season, 0.2 percentage points higher than the 44.1% Evansville allows to opponents. Evansville averages 7.2 made 3-pointers per game this season, 1.4 more made shots on average than the 5.8 per game Illinois State allows.
The teams meet for the third time this season. The Redbirds won 88-75 in the last matchup on Feb. 15. Grace Nelson led the Redbirds with 23 points, and Camryn Runner led the Purple Aces with 26 points.
TOP PERFORMERS: Washington is scoring 16.7 points per game with 8.8 rebounds and 1.4 assists for the Redbirds. Trista Fayta is averaging 15.2 points, seven assists and 1.8 steals over the last 10 games.
Runner is scoring 18.2 points per game and averaging 5.6 rebounds for the Purple Aces. Georgia Cox is averaging 9.7 points and 2.7 rebounds over the last 10 games.
LAST 10 GAMES: Redbirds: 7-3, averaging 72.1 points, 29.8 rebounds, 16.2 assists, 6.2 steals and 3.8 blocks per game while shooting 45.6% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 68.2 points per game.
Purple Aces: 3-7, averaging 71.9 points, 29.9 rebounds, 15.6 assists, 6.6 steals and 2.7 blocks per game while shooting 42.6% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 77.5 points.
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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.
