TERRE HAUTE, Ind. – Indiana State closes an early-season two-game homestand Saturday afternoon when it faces Wright State inside Hulman Center.
 
Tipoff is slated for 1 p.m. with the game being carried on ESPN+.
 

Indiana State Women's Basketball vs. Wright State
Date	Saturday, November 18 | 1 p.m. ET
Location // Venue	Terre Haute, Ind. // Hulman Center (9,000)
Game Notes	Indiana State Notes // Wright State Notes
Live Stats	Live Stat Feed
Watch	ESPN+
Tickets	Tickets Starting at $6
Media Info	Indiana State Women's Basketball Media Center
Social Media	@IndStWBB // @IndStAthletics

 
Gameday Promotions
Saturday's game has been designated as Local Heroes Day, with discounted tickets available at the Hulman Center box office to active and retired military, first responders and healthcare workers.
 
Mace Ford is Saturday's game sponsor. For more information on our game sponsor, visit HERE.
 
Last Time Out
Chelsea Cain led all players with 20 points and nine rebounds Wednesday, but visiting Illinois-Springfield defeated Indiana State 71-69 inside Hulman Center.
 
Kiley Bess and Mya Glanton added 11 points apiece, with Glanton also finishing one rebound shy of a double-double. Chloe Williams had seven rebounds and five points off the bench.
 
Indiana State led by as many as eight in the second quarter, thanks in large part to 20 combined points in the first half from Cain, Bess and Ella Sawyer. Cain added six points in the third to keep the Sycamores on top for most of the period, but a UIS run saw the teams tied heading into the fourth. Back-to-back baskets late from Glanton gave Indiana State a four-point lead with less than three minutes remaining, but Illinois-Springfield closed on an 8-2 run to upend the Sycamores in their home opener.
 
Get To The Line
Indiana State has found its way to the free throw line frequently in its first three games, and the Sycamores have converted their opportunities from the charity stripe.
 
ISU leads the MVC with 19.3 free throws made per game and is shooting 73.4 percent from the line. The Sycamores rank in the top 20 nationally in both free throw attempts (20th, 26.0 per game) and made free throws per game (16th, 19.3 per game).
 
Crashing The Glass
Indiana State is among the best in the Missouri Valley Conference on the glass, as the Sycamores are second in the conference with 43.3 rebounds per game.
 
The Trees are averaging 15.7 offensive rebounds per game and have a rebound margin of plus-8.0 per game, both marks which rank third in the conference and in the top 100 nationally. Indiana State has won the rebounding margin by double-digits in two of its first three games this season.
 
Magic Numbers
Indiana State has been tough to beat when scoring 70 or more points under Chad Killinger. The Sycamores have scored 70-plus points 17 times under Killinger and are 14-3 in those games.
 
Included in that mark is a perfect 8-0 record when scoring 80 or more points. Indiana State has won those seven games by an average of 19 points, which includes the Sycamores' season-opening win at Northern Kentucky.
 
Conversely, the Sycamores have also been hard to beat when their opponents fail to put up high point totals. Indiana State is 12-4 over the last two seasons when allowing fewer than 60 points, including a 4-0 mark in games where the Trees allowed less than 50 points. All of Indiana State's wins when allowing less than 50 points have come by double-digits.
 
Championship Pedigree
Indiana State's additions for the 2023-24 season, be it coaching staff or student-athlete, add much-needed championship experience to a Sycamore team in search of its first conference regular season title since 2013-14 and its first-ever conference tournament title.
 
First-year assistant coach Kelby Fritz joined the Sycamore coaching staff from Missouri Southern, where she helped lead the Lions to their best season in program history, a MIAA regular season and tournament title, and an NCAA Division II Regional Final.
 
On the player side, Kiley Bess comes to Terre Haute after being a part of Saint Louis' 2022-23 A-10 Tournament-winning team. Bess also comes from a decorated family, as her grandfather is Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame inductee Gene Bess, the all-time winningest college basketball coach, and her father is the head men's basketball coach and athletic director at Three Rivers College.
 
Indiana State's freshman class also brings championship experience to Terre Haute. Jailah Pelly was a part of O'Fallon Township's 2023 Illinois Class 4A state title-winning team, while Keslyn Secrist led Pulaski County to the Virginia Class 4 State Championship game.
 
Coming Full Circle
Indiana State assistant coach Alexis Newbolt is in the midst of a full-circle moment in her first season on the sidelines in Terre Haute.
 
Newbolt played two seasons at Indiana State (2014-16), earning MVC Newcomer Week honors once during her playing career with the Blue and White. Her playing career coincided with the last time the Sycamores earned votes in the AP Top 25, which came during the 2014-15 season.
 
In addition to her playing career as a Sycamore, Newbolt also has a prior connection to head coach Chad Killinger. Newbolt played for two seasons under Killinger at Moberly Area CC (2012-14), earning NJCAA All-America honors during her time as a Greyhound.
 
Wright State at a Glance
Wright State enters the weekend at 1-2 and is coming off its first win of the 2023-24 season, an 88-64 victory over Mount Vernon Nazarene.
 
Alexis Hutchison leads the Raiders in scoring at 13.0 points per game, while Kacee Baumhower averages 12.0 points per game for the Raiders. Rachel Loobie has a team-high 6.0 rebounds per game, while both Baumhower and Makiya Miller average more than three assists per game.
 
Wright State is looking to improve off its 2022-23 record of 8-24. The Raiders' eight wins marked a four-win improvement from the previous season.
 
Head coach Kari Hoffman is in her third season at the helm and has a 13-45 record at Wright State. Hoffman was previously the head coach at Cedarville, going 106-38 in five seasons.
 
Series History Against Wright State
Wright State has a 4-3 lead in the all-time series, though Saturday's matchup is the first between the Sycamores and Raiders since the 2004-05 season. Indiana State and Wright State have split the four previous meetings played in Terre Haute.
 
Last Game Against Wright State (Dec. 11, 2004)
Anne Thatcher, Ashley Clark and Rachel Maenpaa all scored in double-figures for Indiana State, but Wright State used a strong second half to defeat the Sycamores 60-52.
 
Indiana State led during most of the first half, including as much as nine twice, and still was up 36-29 after a Nikki Hall layup with 15:34 to play. The Raiders, however, answered with a 13-0 run over the next three-plus minutes, five each by Brittney Whiteside and Tyanda Hammock, to go ahead 42-36.
 
The Raider advantage was as much as nine twice before an ISU 7-1 run cut the margin to 52-49 with 3:51 remaining. It stayed that way until a 5-0 WSU run with just over a minute to go made it 56-49. Melanie Boeglin answered with a three for the Sycamores, but Indiana State could get no closer than two.
 
Up Next
Indiana State heads to San Juan, Puerto Rico, to compete in the Puerto Rico Clasico over Thanksgiving. The Sycamores will face Radford on Thanksgiving Day and Northern Illinois on November 25, with both games slated for an 11 a.m. ET tip.
 
Follow the Sycamores
For the latest information on Sycamore Women's Basketball, visit GoSycamores.com. You can also find the team on social media, including Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube. Fans can also receive updates on Sycamore Athletics by downloading the March On App from the both the App Store and the Google Play Store.