TERRE HAUTE, Ind. – The Indiana State women's basketball team will host Northern Iowa Sunday at noon inside the Hulman Center. The game will serve as the teams "Pink Game". Fans are encouraged to wear pink to raise awareness for breast cancer and to honor survivors. The game can be seen world-wide on The Valley On ESPN3 and can be heard in the Wabash Valley on WIBQ 1230 AM with Luke Martin calling the action.
 
LOOKING AT NORTHERN IOWA
Northern Iowa comes into the game with a 19-6 overall record, and a 12-2 mark in MVC play. UNI is riding a three-game winning streak and is led by Madison Weekly who is scoring 15.1 points per game while Ellie Herzberg adds 11.7 points a game for the Panthers. Forward Hannah Schonhardt paces UNI on the boards with 7.2 rebounds a contest. As a team, UNI is scoring 67 points a game while holding opponents to 57.4.
 
SERIES HISTORY
The Sycamores lead the all-time series with the Panthers, 42-29, in the series that dates back to 1977. The Sycamores have struggled as of late though against UNI, dropping its last five contests. Indiana State's last win came in 2014 when the Sycamores took the season series from the Panthers.
 
PUTTING ON THE CLAMPS
The Sycamores lead the Missouri Valley Conference, holding opponents just 56.6 points per game this season. Indiana State is also leading the conference field goal percent defense, allowing the opposition to shoot just 35.2 percent from the floor. Indiana State is 9-6 when holding opponents under 60 points.
 
DOMINATE THE PAINT
Junior forward Wendi Bibbins continued her dominance of the paint for Indiana State against Illinois State (2/3) in Normal as she scored a career high 23 points and pulled down 13 rebounds; one shy of a career high. The Harvey, Louisiana native recorded her third double-double of the season in the game. In just 18 minutes of action in the first half, Bibbins had 15 points and nine boards to lead the Sycamores. For her efforts, Bibbins was awarded with MVC Newcomer of the Week honors for the second time this season.
 
REBOUND AND WIN
The Sycamores are 8-3 when cleaning up on the glass this season and just 4-9 when getting outrebounded. As a team ISU sit at seventh place in the conference with 38.3 rebounds per contest while sitting second in the MVC with 27 defensive rebounds per game. Junior forward Wendi Bibbins leads the Sycamores with 8.4 rebounds per contest.
 
CONSISTENCY
Ashley Taia, the Sycamores' leading scorer has been the most consistent offense for ISU this season. Taia has scored in double-figures 15 times including a career high 26 points at Southern Illinois on New Year's Day. The Brisbane, Australia ranks ninth in the MVC in scoring at 12.6 points per game.
 
BREAKOUT GAME
Regan Wentland picked up her first career start Sunday against Loyola (2/12) and made it count. The sophomore set career highs in rebounds, assists and blocks in the contest. In total she grabbed 13 rebounds with five on the offensive end. She assisted on seven of the teams' 15 assists and blocked three shots in the game.
 
DEFENSIVE INTENSITY
Indiana State played one of its most consistent defensive games of the season against the Ramblers (2/12), holding Loyola to just 32 points in the game. The Sycamores did not allow LUC to score in double-digits for three quarters and allowed only 12 points in the second half of play. The Sycamores went for eight blocks in the game with Regan Wentland and Rhagen Smith picking up three each.
 
SWAT TEAM
Indiana State as a whole has recorded 88 blocks as a team this year to lead the Missouri Valley. Their 3.7 blocks per game second-best in the MVC behind Illinois State. The Sycamores top paint protector is Wendi Bibbins who has 22 blocks while her counterpart Rhagen Smith has swatted away 20 shots. A total of 11 players have recorded blocks this year for the Sycamores.
 
CAREER NOTES
Junior Ashley Taia has recently surpassed 500 career points here at Indiana State. She is just seven assists away from 100. Senior Rhagen Smith is five rebounds shy of 400 for her career and Wendi Bibbins reached 200 rebounds this season with six in the team's last game against Drake.
 
For the latest information on the Sycamore Women's Basketball team, make sure to check out GoSycamores.com. You can also find the team on social media including Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.