TERRE HAUTE, Ind. – Indiana State opens Hoops in the Heartland as the No. 8 seed and will faceoff with No. 9 seeded Illinois State in the opening round of the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament. The Sycamores and Redbirds will kick off the tournament March 9 at 5 p.m. ET from the iWireless Center in Moline, Illinois. All matchups during the MVC Tournament will stream live on The Valley On ESPN3. The winner of Thursday's matchup will move on to take on top-seeded and nationally ranked Drake Friday.
 
ALL-MVC HONORABLE MENTION
Junior guard Ashley Taia has been named to the Missouri Valley Conference honorable mention team as announced by the MVC Wednesday. Taia has put together a stellar junior campaign, leading the Sycamores with 12 points per game to go along with 4.7 rebounds and a team-high 56 steals. She shot nearly 30 percent from 3-point range and scored her 500th point during conference play. Taia has started in all 29 games of the 2016-17 season, reaching double-figure scoring in 19 of those games while ranking 10th in the league in scoring. She scored 20 or more points in three games including career-high 26 in the win at Southern Illinois on New Year's Day.  She has amassed 348 total points to push her two year total as a Sycamore to 581 points. In addition, the Brisbane, Australia native also set new career marks with 11 rebounds at Wichita State and recorded five steals in a win against Bradley.
 
GETTING IT DONE ON AND OFF THE COURT
Indiana State's Rhagen Smith has been named to the 2017 Missouri Valley Conference Women's Basketball Scholar-Athlete Second Team Tuesday. Smith carries a 3.91 GPA in nursing, and was also named to the 2016 Scholar-Athlete Team. The criteria for the scholar-athlete team balloting parallels the CoSIDA (College Sports Information Directors of America) standards for Academic All-America voting. Nominees must be starters or important reserves, have played at least 75-percent of a team's games, and must carry at least a 3.20 GPA (on a 4.0 scale).
 
PUTTING ON THE CLAMPS
The Sycamores are second in the Missouri Valley Conference behind UNI, holding opponents just 58 points per game. Indiana State leads the conference field goal percent defense, allowing the opposition to shoot just 35.5 percent from the floor. Indiana State is 9-7 when holding opponents under 60 points. Currently, Indiana State ranks 17th nationally in field goal percentage defense, holding opponents to 35.5% shooting from the field.
 
REBOUND AND WIN
The Sycamores are 8-6 when cleaning up on the glass this season and just 4-11 when getting outrebounded. As a team ISU sits fourth place in the conference with 38.6 rebounds per contest while sitting second in the MVC with 26.8 defensive rebounds per game. Junior forward Wendi Bibbins leads the Sycamores with 8.3 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 19 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 points per game.
 
LET IT RAIN
Sophomore Tierra Webb drained four 3-pointers against Southern Illinois (3/2), setting a new career best in the category. The Richton Park, Illinois native has had success against the Salukis this year. She recorded a career best seven field goals against the Salukis in Carbondale New Year's Day.
 
SWAT TEAM
Indiana State as a whole has recorded 107 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 Rhagen Smith with 27 blocks this year. Her counterpart in Wendi Bibbins adds 25 total blocks to the squad.  A total of 11 players have recorded blocks this year for the Sycamores.
 
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.