DAYTON, Ohio – by Mary Crompton Historic night, as the grad student set a new career high, paved the way for Illinois State women’s basketball as the 2022-23 season officially kicked off Thursday night. In a two-team 2022 NCAA postseason matchup, it was the Redbirds who took the 74-70 victory.
The teams battled it out throughout the first half as no team could go higher than six. At the end of the first 10 minutes, it was Dayton with a six-point advantage as they led 18-12. Then, going out for the second quarter, the ‘Birds rallied to stay physical and keep the margin as tight as possible.
With a three-point field goal with 4:11 on the clock, freshman Abbie Alsma tied the score at 24 apiece. From there, the Flyers outscored the ISU 7-4 to hold a slim 31-28 halftime lead.
In the second half, after Dayton scored eight of the first 10 points to take a nine-point lead, it was Illinois State who fell behind by 12 before coming back and making one. seven-point game in the media timeout. The quarter ended with ISU closing the gap to four, heading into the final 10 minutes (approximately).
With 4:32 left in the fourth quarter, sharpshooter Crompton gave ISU a three-point lead. The ‘Birds would eventually hold the same three-point lead as fourth headed into the final minute. The Flyers would react and tie it at 63 and force an extra five minutes of play.
The overtime frame saw another round of back and forth competition. With just 1:37 to go, Crompton would knock down a pair of crucial free throws to extend the lead to three.
The lead would eventually reach the final deficit of five as paige robinson knocked down a pair of free throws herself to seal the game and give ISU the win.
For Dayton, Maliya Perry led the way, single-handedly posting a double-double with 13 points and 12 rebounds.
TURNING
There are 5:30 left in the fourth quarter. Ball game tied at 53 apiece. Walk in Mary Crompton. As part of his seven three-point nights, Crompton would score three straight triples (nine straight points) to make it 59-55 ISU.
IN THE SCORE BOX:
- Halftime, he was a grad student Mary Crompton as the only double-digit Redbird with 12 on 4-5 shooting from behind the arc.
- The Iowa City native would end her night with 7 triples, a far cry from tying the ISU program record for threes in a single game set by Taylor Stewart in 2017. The 7 threes move Crompton into a five-way tie alongside of Taylor Stewart, Maggie Krick and Megan McCracken for the second three singles matches.
- Crompton’s career-high 27 points marks the first time a Redbird has amassed 25 points in a game since JuJu Redmond did so against Iowa to end the 2021-22 season.
- DeAnna Wilson recorded another double-double with 12 points and 11 rebounds. His 11 rebounds led the way for ISU as the ‘Birds finished with 37 boards, including 18 offensive boards.
NEXT
Illinois State returns home to CEFCU Arena – Home of the Redbirds for a tipping matchup with the visiting St. Thomas Tommies at 6:30 p.m. CT on Tuesday, November 15.
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