The Sycamore women’s basketball team could not find an answer for the hot shooting Redbirds of Illinois State as they fell 90-61 on the road Saturday.
The Sycamores battled early and jumped out to a 10-8 lead just under four minutes into the game. However, the Redbirds were just getting warmed up as they went on an 8-0 run to jump out to a 16-10 lead.
Senior guard Kelsey Luna hit a jumper, followed by a trey from sophomore guard Deja Mattox to bring the Sycamores back to within one.
The Redbirds continued to shoot the ball well for the remainder of the half, and the Sycamores were unable to keep pace. At halftime, the Sycamores trailed the Redbirds 45-34.
In the first half, the Redbirds shot 57 percent from the floor and were 8-11 from the 3-point line.
After halftime, Luna hit an immediate trey to bring the Sycamores back to within eight but the Redbirds answered back and pulled away.
The Redbirds scored even better in the second half shooting 60 percent from the field and putting up 45 points.
In the end, the Sycamore offense was not able to answer the Redbirds hot shooting.
“They just shot the ball well today,” head coach Jim Wiedie said. “They had some contested shots but they also had some wide open looks.”
The Redbirds also took advantage of the Sycamores in transition, scoring almost a quarter of their points in transition.
“We tried to focus on their transition game,” Wiedie said. “We did absolutely nothing to stop it and well they had 22 points in transition.”
Freshman guard Taylor Whitley led the Sycamores with 17 points, five assists and four steals.
Luna and sophomore guard Chelsea Buher both added eight points for the Sycamores.
Junior forward Kelsie Cooley also chipped in with seven points.
The Sycamores will next be in action Friday when they host the Bears of Missouri State. Tipoff is scheduled for 7:05 p.m. Friday at Hulman Center.
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