Freshmen shine as Illinois State women's basketball throttles St. Francis

NORMAL — Coach Kristen Gillespie made her preferences clear Sunday when the first four players she summoned off the Illinois State bench were freshmen.

Shannon Dowell, Savannah McGowan, Brooke Coffey and Molly Lenz took that show of faith and responded with a combined 36 points in ISU's 89-51 victory over St. Francis at CEFCU Arena.

“Your playing time is earned here. That’s something we talk about,” Gillespie said. “I liked what I saw out of all of our freshmen.”

While advancing to 3-1, the Redbirds were never threatened by the NAIA opponent from Joliet.

ISU led 25-11 after one quarter as Dowell scored seven.

“You’re just starting to see what she can do. The sky is the absolute limit for that young lady,” Gillespie said of Dowell. “Coming out of high school, I don’t think people really thought she could stretch the floor. That’s something she’s really worked on. She’s really tough when she’s shooting like that.”

A 5-foot-10 guard from O’Fallon, Dowell was 4 of 9 from the field, 2 of 3 from beyond the arc and hit both of her free throws for 12 points.

“I feel like my teammates encouraging me is really big for me. They constantly tell me I’m doing great and they know I can do it,” said Dowell.

“We talk a lot if I do the little things in practice I’ll see it in the game. That’s really shown the past two games. I feel like she (Gillespie) does have a lot of faith in me. It’s up to me to do the little things.”

ISU carried a 39-20 margin into halftime with freshmen scoring 24.

The third quarter belonged to Caroline Waite. The Bradley transfer scored 16 of her game-high 19 points and connected on four of her five 3-pointers as the Redbirds extended their advantage to 68-33.

“You see the ball go in and it (the rim) opens up. As they keep going in, it keeps getting bigger and bigger,” Waite said. “We’re moving the ball really well. Everyone is pass first. We had a lot of steals and turnovers on their end so we got to push in transition.”

Coffey with 11 points and McGowan with 10 joined Dowell by registering their first collegiate double figure scoring performance. DeAnna Wilson and Abbie Aalsma added nine each.

Aalsma was 3 of 4 from 3-point range after hitting just 4 of 20 from the floor over her first three games.

“I’ve never been so excited to see a ball go in for a player than that,” said Gillespie. “She just needed to see one go in. She needed a game like that.”

The Redbirds shot 51 percent from the field (33 of 65) and 52 percent beyond the arc (12 of 23). Maya Wong handed out eight assists, and Kate Bullman secured seven rebounds.

Senior Daijah Smith was limited to seven minutes after recently emerging from the concussion protocol.

“She hasn’t practiced,” Gillespie said. “We were being a little bit cautious with her.”

St. Francis (3-4) received 14 points apiece from Laurelei Thormeyer and Tykara Harrison. The Fighting Saints shot just 31.5 percent (17 of 54) and were outrebounded 40-26.

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