TERRE HAUTE —
The halftime speech is one of the most time-worn clichés in sports, but once in a while, it’s meaningful. It certainly was for the Indiana State women’s basketball team on Friday against Bradley.
The Sycamores played an unaggressive and sloppy first-half characterized by poor shooting and average defense. Bradley led by two at the break.
“There was chaos. We weren’t setting up plays. We were just individually breaking off and doing our own thing. We had to come together,” ISU center Shannon Thomas said.
ISU coach Teri Moren saw the problems, straightened the team out in the halftime locker room and they listened. ISU started the second half with fire on both ends of the floor and rode the momentum for the entire second half. The Sycamores pulled away and defeated Bradley 77-60.
The victory broke ISU’s six-game losing streak. ISU had not won since Jan. 12. Thomas led the way with 24 points and 11 rebounds. Deja Mattox added 16 points.
“Six games is a lot to lose in a row, but we had the fight in us coming out of the locker room. We lack that in away games sometimes and it has showed. We put it together in the second half. I wish it had come earlier, but it’s a win,” Mattox said.
Moren made two adjustments to get the Sycamores going — one was tactical, one was an attitude adjustment. Moren lamented the poor way ISU ran its first-half offense, which is to say, they weren’t running it at all. ISU shot 26.5 percent and though it had 17 first-half offensive rebounds, it scored just eight points from them.
“I had to have a conversation with our point guards. There were possessions where we didn’t run anything. That was the messiness of it,” Moren said. “We’re not good at broken plays, making one-on-one decisions and scoring. We have to rely on five people working together and to execute our plays.”
The tactical move was a switch to a 2-2-1-1 press defense. The move befuddled the Braves (13-11, 4-8) as they had 10 of their 14 turnovers in the second half. ISU scored 18 of its 21 points off turnovers after the break.
“We’re usually back playing man and not aggressive. We didn’t have any time to lose, so we got into our press and it was effective,” Mattox said.
The benefits were felt immediately. Thomas, Brittany Schoen and Taylor Whitley scored on ISU’s first three possession to put the Sycamores in front 33-29. From there, it was a steady diet of Thomas in the paint. She scored 16 of her points in the second half as ISU’s ball-handlers found her deeper to the basket than they had in the first half.
ISU (11-12, 5-6) never looked back. It’s final lead was its largest.
“We did a great job taking care of the basketball in the first half. We didn’t in the second half. We weren’t as aggressive as we needed to be. I needed to get us more fired up to come out at the half. Obviously, Teri did that,” Bradley coach Paula Buscher said.
ISU next plays host to Northern Iowa on Sunday.
BRADLEY (60) — Westcott 5-6 1-1 11, Kassing 2-9 0-2 4, Budd 2-8 0-0 5, Yohn 0-2 0-0 0, O’Leary 6-16 5-7 17, Butts 3-6 3-5 9, Muegge 0-0 0-0 0, Bisping 1-2 0-0 2, Niemiera 0-1 0-2 0, Hollingshed 3-7 0-0 6, Frings 2-3 0-0 6, Spinas-Valainis 0-0 0-0 0. 24-60 FG, 9-17 FT. 69 TP.
INDIANA STATE (77) — Mattox 5-12 4-4 16, Thomas 9-14 6-9 24, Schoen 3-9 3-4 11, Whitley 2-8 4-4 8, Munn 2-8 2-2 8, Zurek 1-2 2-5 4, Mahan 1-4 2-4 4, Franklin 1-4 0-0 2. 24-61 FG, 23-32 FT, 77 TP.
Halftime score — BU 29-27. 3-point goals — BU 3-13 (Frings 2-3, Budd 1-3, O’Leary 0-5, Butts 0-2), ISU 6-15 (Schoen 2-6, Munn 2-5, Mattox 2-4). Rebounds — BU 38* (O’Leary 6, Budd 5, Westcott 5, Kassing 4, Hollingshed 4, Butts 3, Niemiera 3, Yohn 2, Bisping 2, Frings 2, Team RB 2*), ISU 45* (Thomas 11, Mattox 6, Whitley 5, Zurek 5, Munn 4, Mahan 4, Franklin 4, Team RB 4*, Schoen 2). Assists — BU 8 (O’Leary 3, Kassing, Budd, Butts, Muegge, Hollingshed), ISU 14 (Whitley 6, Zurek 4, Munn 2, Schoen, Franklin). Steals — BU 6 (Budd 2, Butts 2, Westcott, Kassing), ISU 7 (Whitley 3, Mattox, Schoen, Mahan, Franklin). Blocks — BU 3 (Westcott, Kassing, O’Leary), ISU 2 (Thomas 2). Turnovers — BU 14 (Budd 5, Westcott 3, Butts 2, O’Leary, Bisping), ISU 13 (Thomas 3, Whitley 3, Mattox 2, Munn 2, Mahan, Frankin, Team TO). Total fouls — BU 24, ISU 15. Fouled out — none. A — 3,144.
Next — ISU (11-12, 5-6) plays host to Northern Iowa and Bradley (13-11, 4-8) plays at Illinois State on Sunday.
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