A packed crowd helps on the Play4Kay game leads Illinois State women’s basketball to a win

Image courtesy of Illinois State women’s basketball.

NORMAL, Ill. — Illinois State women’s basketball defeated their I-74 rival, Bradley, 58-54 in the annual Play4Kay game. The Braves started on a 10-0 run to shutdown the Redbirds, but Bella Finnegan led a resilient comeback to remain undefeated at home.

ISU fans packed the stands wearing pink to support cancer survivors of all ages. The Redbird faithful showed out in the loudest match of the year.

Trouble from the free-throw line caused trouble for the Redbirds, but they earned the extra points when they needed it most.

Bradley took control of the game from the early front. ISU could not find a way to slow down the offense and defense was out of rhythm. Head Coach Kristen Gillespie was forced to call a time-out less than three minutes into the opening quarter, but the Braves scored out of the timeout to take a 10-0 lead.

Trista Fayta put ISU on the scoreboard with a shot from beyond the arc and Bradley led 10-3 with 5:36 left in the first quarter. The next three minutes remained scoreless until Kaylen Nelson knocked down a 3-pointer of her own to stretch the Bradley lead back to 10.

The final six points in the first quarter for ISU came from 22-feet out. Fayta hit her second and final 3-pointer and Finnegan converted on her second three-point attempt with seconds left on the clock to close the deficit to six points, 15-9.

The Redbirds slowly continued to close the gap in the second quarter, but Bradley seemed to always have an answer. Points from Finnegan and Doneelah Washington put the Redbirds within five, but Jaeden Pratt earned her only 3-pointer of the night at a valuable time to make it a two-point game. Dashawnti Thomas tied the game with a hook shot in the paint with three minutes left in the half. Bradley took the lead back with a layup from Ellie McDermid, but ISU kept the game within two possessions and went into the final 20 minutes trailing one point, 23-22.

Finnegan went on a tandem to give the lead back to ISU. She tied the game back up 29-29 with her third 3-pointer of the night. Nelson gave a two-point lead back to the Braves, but Finnegan hit a jump shot and paired it with her third 3-pointer to take the lead 34-31.

Mya Wardle answered back with a buzzer-beater shot from beyond the arc to tie the game going into the final 10 minutes.

A back-and-forth battle ensued, but ISU had a five-point lead,  43-38, after a layup by Fayta with 2:58 left on the clock. A shot in the paint and a 3-pointer by Nelson brought the Braves within one and Maya Foz knocked down two shots from the charity stripe to take a 45-44 lead.

Finnegan was the spark for the Redbirds yet again for her fourth 22-foot shot to give ISU a two-point lead with less than a minute left. Foz tied the game off a jumper with 10 seconds remaining and forced the game to overtime. The freshman was the highest scorer for the braves, ending the campaign with 15 points.

ISU held the lead for the entirety of the extra five minutes with help from the free-throw line. Despite shooting 14 for 27 from the charity stripe on the entire match, Washington came up big for the Redbirds, securing five of her six free-throw shots to help them soar to victory.

Washington and Fayta were the only other Redbirds who finished in double-digits, both ending the night with 14 points.

The win marks the lowest-scoring win for the Redbirds this season and their eleventh win at home this season.

The Redbirds move to 13-9 overall and 7-4 in the Missouri Valley Conference. ISU is back in action at 4 p.m. on Feb. 7 at CEFCU Arena to take on Drake.

For all things Redbird women’s basketball, stay tuned on WZND.com.