TERRE HAUTE, Ind. – Indiana State plays its first game at Hoops in the Heartland Thursday afternoon, opening the MVC Tournament against Southern Illinois at 1 p.m.
 
Thursday's game will be carried on ESPN+ and 105.5 The Legend.
 

Hoops in the Heartland First Round - Indiana State Women's Basketball vs. Southern Illinois
Date	Thursday, March 14 | 1 p.m. ET
Location // Venue	Moline, Ill. // Vibrant Arena at The MARK (9,200)
Game Notes	Indiana State Notes // Southern Illinois Notes
Live Stats	Live Stats Link
Watch	ESPN+
Listen	Indiana State Radio / 105.5 The Legend
Tickets	Single Session Tickets Starting at $12
Media Info	Indiana State Women's Basketball Media Center
Social Media	@IndStWBB // @IndStAthletics

 
Last Time Out
Kiley Bess and Mya Glanton scored 14 points apiece Saturday afternoon, but regular season champion Drake's fast-paced offense proved too much for Indiana State in a 96-64 defeat for the Sycamores inside Hulman Center.
 
Bella Finnegan added 13 points for the Sycamores, while Chelsea Cain nearly had a double-double with nine points and nine rebounds.
 
Indiana State kept pace early with the league leaders, with Cain and Glanton picking up early paint points for the Sycamores. Asia Donald added a pair of early baskets, but the Bulldogs led by 10 after a quarter and never looked back. Indiana State's freshmen got the Trees within nine midway through the second, but a 14-2 run for the Bulldogs increased the visitors' lead to more than 20. Drake's relentless attack of the paint, combined with the Bulldogs finding their 3-point stroke late, propelled the regular season champions to a win.
  
Tournament Scenarios
Should the Sycamores win their opening round game against Southern Illinois, they will play regular season champion Drake in the quarterfinals Friday at 1 p.m.
 
Saturday's semifinal game would take place at 2:30 p.m., with Sunday's championship game tipping at 2 p.m.
 
Similar to this season's scenario, Indiana State's most recent MVC Tournament win came in the 8-9 game. The Sycamores defeated Evansville 89-75 in the opening game of the 2022 MVC Tournament, with Mya Glanton leading the charge with a 26-point, 12-rebound double-double.
 
Student-Athlete Success
Indiana State landed a pair on the 2024 MVC Scholar-Athlete Teams, with Kiley Bess being selected to the First Team and Ella Sawyer selected to the Second Team.
 
Bess has a 4.0 GPA as a pre-physical therapy major and has led Indiana State in scoring this season with 11.3 points per game. She is also among the team leaders in assists (2.1) and steals (1.6).
 
Sawyer has a 3.982 GPA as an education major with a concentration in middle school math teaching. She leads Indiana State with 3.3 assists per game and also ranks third on the team with 4.4 rebounds per game.
 
Bess is the first Sycamore to be named First Team MVC Scholar-Athlete since the 2013-14 season, while Sawyer is the first Sycamore to earn Second Team MVC Scholar-Athlete since the 2016-17 season.
 
Milestone Moments
Indiana State student-athletes have hit multiple season and career milestones this season, with additional athletes in position to reach high marks at this week's MVC Tournament.
 
Chelsea Cain became the most recent Sycamore to hit a career milestone, recording her 1,500th career point against Drake. Nearly half of Cain's point totals have come in her two seasons at Indiana State.
 
Ella Sawyer is on the verge of surpassing 100 assists for the season, as she enters the opening round of the conference tournament with 97. Sawyer would be the first Sycamore to reach 100 assists in a season since the 2013-14 campaign.
 
Earlier this season, Mya Glanton became the 22nd player in pprogram history to reach 500 career rebounds. Glanton currently sits eight rebounds shy of 600 for her career and eight points shy of 750 in her career.
 
Bella Finnegan also surpassed 500 points for her collegiate career in February. Finnegan reached the milestone in 56 games and has averaged nine points per game for her career.
 
No Fly Zone
Indiana State has been one of the best in the conference when it comes to 3-point defense this season. The Sycamores lead the MVC in 3-point defense during conference play, with league opponents hitting just 28.7 percent of their attempts from distance this season.
 
The Sycamores have nine games in conference play this season where opponents have shot below 25 percent from behind the arc. Included in that is four games in which MVC foes shot below 20 percent from 3-point range.
 
Shot-Swatting Sycamores
Indiana State has recorded 14 games with four or more blocks this season, including nine with five or more rejections. The Sycamores' most recent five-block game came in their last game against Drake, with Indiana State recording five or more blocks in each of the last three games.
 
As a team, Indiana State ranks fourth in the conference with 3.4 blocks per game and have improved that average to 3.9 blocks per game against Valley foes. The Sycamores tied the program single-game high of 10 blocked shots earlier this season against Southern Illinois, while Savannah White matched the program individual single-game high of seven blocks in the aforementioned game against the Salukis.
 
Get To The Line
Indiana State has fared well when it gets to the free throw line this season, connecting on 75.1 percent of its attempts from the charity stripe during the 2023-24 campaign.
 
Since the start of conference play, Indiana State's free throw percentage has improved to 76.7 percent. The Sycamores have 11 games this season in which they shot 80 percent or better from the charity stripe, with 10 of those coming against conference foes.
 
Sharpshooters
Indiana State has found increased success from behind the arc in conference play, with the Sycamores knocking down 33.0 percent of their attempts from distance against Valley foes. The Sycamores' 3-point percentage in conference play is a 10-percent increase from their non-conference 3-point percentage.
 
The Sycamores have knocked down five or more 3-pointers in 15 games this season, with 12 of those games coming against conference foes. Indiana State has hit five or more 3-pointers in nine of its last 10 games.
 
Southern Illinois at a Glance
Southern Illinois enters the conference tournament at 11-19 overall and 6-14 in conference play. The Salukis finished tied for eighth in the MVC this season along with Indiana State following a 2-0 road trip to close out the regular season.
 
Laniah Randle leads the Salukis in scoring and rebounding with 18.7 points and 8.8 rebounds per game, ranking in the top three of the MVC in both statistics. Jaidynn Mason adds 14.1 points per game, while Quierra Love leads the team in both assists (119) and steals. Three different Salukis (Love, Mason and Randle) have more than 50 steals this season, with Randle also leading the team with 20 blocks.
 
Kelly Bond-White is in her second season as the head coach at Southern Illinois and owns a record of 23-38. Bond-White is 4-1 against Indiana State.
 
Series History Against Southern Illinois
Southern Illinois leads the all-time series 59-46 and has eliminated the Sycamores at the MVC Tournament each of the last three seasons.
 
The Sycamores and Salukis split the season series, with the road team winning both meetings. Indiana State won 64-63 in Carbondale in January, while Southern Illinois won 80-70 in Terre Haute in February.
 
Last Meeting Against Southern Illinois (Feb. 17, 2024)
Kiley Bess led Indiana State with 19 points and Ella Sawyer dished out a career-high 12 assists, but visiting Southern Illinois scored 50 points in the second half to defeat the Sycamores 80-70 inside Hulman Center.
 
Sawyer was on triple-double watch by the end of the game, finishing with nine points and seven rebounds in addition to her career-best mark in assists. Bess pulled down five rebounds for the Blue and White, while Bella Finnegan also finished in double-figures for the Sycamores with 10 points.
 
Indiana State got off to a slow start, with the visitors jumping out to an early lead in the first quarter. The Sycamores pulled their way back thanks to nine points between Bess and Finnegan in the first, then used a 3-point barrage from Keslyn Secrist in the second to take a 33-30 lead at the half. SIU opened the second half on a 7-0 run and never trailed from that point on, though. Indiana State was within three early in the fourth quarter, but a 15-2 Saluki run broke the game open.
 
Up Next
The winner of Thursday's game will advance to the quarterfinals of Hoops in the Heartland and will face No. 1 seed Drake Friday at 1 p.m.
 
The loser will have its season come to an end.
 
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.