TERRE HAUTE, Ind. – Indiana State begins its final road weekend with its longest trip of conference play, as the Sycamores travel to Des Moines to face Drake Thursday night.
 
Thursday's game tips at 7 p.m. and will be carried on ESPN+ with Larry Morgan (play-by-play) and Laura Leonard (analyst) on the call. John Sherman will also have the radio call on WVIG-FM/105.5 The Legend.
 
Last Time Out
Deja Jones registered the first 20-10 game of her career in a Sunday afternoon inside the Athletics-Recreation Center. Unfortunately for Indiana State, it came in a 73-68 setback on the road to Valparaiso.
 
Jones finished with 20 points, a game-high 12 rebounds and five assists, while Savannah White added 13 points and eight rebounds. Keslyn Secrist and Bella Finnegan also finished in double-figures for the Blue and White with 11 and 10, respectively.
 
Indiana State jumped out to a strong start from behind the arc to build a five-point lead after the opening frame, but the Sycamores' success from 3-point range ended after the first. Valparaiso used an 11-2 run midway through the second quarter to take the lead, one which the Beacons held for a majority of the game. Finnegan and Davina Smith combined for 10 points in a three-minute span late in the third to pull the Trees level, with Jones and White keeping things on level terms from the free throw line early in the fourth. A late five-point swing for the home side proved costly for Indiana State, though, and Valpo converted from the free throw line down the stretch to narrowly defeat the Trees.
 
Stuffing The Stat Sheet
Indiana State senior guard Deja Jones has become a force for the Sycamores in recent games, having scored in double-figures in each of the last five contests. Jones has done more than just score in recent weeks, though, with a pair of double-doubles and a triple-double, the only one in the conference this season.
 
Over Indiana State's last five games, Jones is averaging 15.2 points, 7.4 rebounds and 7.2 assists per game, leading the Sycamores in rebounds and assists while ranking second on the team in scoring in that span.
 
Lockdown
Despite the result not going in Indiana State's favor in the last game, the Sycamores' defense gave Valparaiso fits throughout. The Beacons shot just 32.9 percent from the field against Indiana State (23-for-70) and just 26.7 percent from 3-point range (8-for-30).
 
Indiana State has forced five of its last seven opponents to shoot under 40 percent from the field, with two of those five opponents shooting below 35 percent from the floor. The Sycamores have also made life hard for opponents behind the arc, with five of the last seven opponents shooting below 30 percent from 3-point range.
 
Stepping Up
Indiana State got a boost off the bench against Valparaiso courtesy of Davina Smith. Smith entered the game against the Beacons averaging just two points per game, but scored six in a two-minute span midway through the third quarter.
 
The six points were Smith's most in a game since scoring 10 at Belmont on Jan. 26. She went 3-for-4 from the field, her best shooting percentage in a game in which she had multiple attempts, and also added three rebounds and an assist.
 
Smith's best games from a scoring standpoint have all come on the road. She had nine points at Murray State and a season-best 10 at Belmont.
 
Rejected
Indiana State forward Savannah White continues to climb her way up the Sycamore record books for blocked shots. White's 39 blocks this season currently rank eighth for a single season in program history, while her 62 career blocks are just five off a top-10 spot in program history.
 
White has registered multiple blocks in eight of the last nine games and leads the MVC with 2.1 blocks per game against conference foes. Of her 39 blocks this season, 33 have come against league foes.
 
White, who tied the program single-game record with seven blocks last season at Southern Illinois, has a pair of game with five or more blocks this season. She had five blocks in the last home game against Bradley, while notching a season-high six blocks against Valparaiso.
 
Long Haul
Indiana State's final road trip sees the Sycamores travel nearly 1,500 miles on the road over a 10-day span, which started with games at UIC and Valparaiso.
 
The long stretch of the trip starts with Thursday's game at Drake before closing out the road trip two days later at Evansville. Indiana State will accrue more than 1,000 miles on the road in traveling for its last two away conference games.
 
Indiana State is no stranger to being on the road, as the Sycamores closed their non-conference slate with seven straight games away from home. That road stretch consisted of nearly 2,000 miles on the road for the Blue and White.
 
Drake At A Glance
Drake enters Thursday's game at 18-9 overall and 12-4 in conference play. The Bulldogs are one of the top offensive teams in the MVC, averaging nearly 80 points per game this season.
 
Katie Dinnebier leads the Drake attack with 21.2 points and 7.4 assists per game, both of which lead the MVC. Dinnebier leads the nation in assists per game and is top 15 nationally in scoring. Anna Miller and Courtney Becker both nearly average a double-double, as Miller averages 14.3 points and 8.9 boards per game and Becker adds 10.4 points and 8.4 rebounds per game.
 
Allison Pohlman is in her fourth season as head coach at Drake and owns an 89-39 record at the helm of the Bulldogs. Pohlman has guided Drake to back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances in 2023 and 2024.
 
Series History Against Drake
Indiana State is 24-65 all-time against Drake, including a 6-37 record in Des Moines. Drake has won each of the last five meetings, and eliminated the Sycamores in the quarterfinals of the 2024 MVC Tournament.
 
The Sycamores' last win in the series came in Des Moines during the 2021-22 season.
 
Last Meeting Against Drake (March 15, 2024)
Three Indiana State players scored in double-figures, but it wasn't enough to extend the Sycamores' season another day in a 75-57 loss to Drake in the quarterfinals of Hoops in the Heartland.
 
Chelsea Cain led the Sycamores with 15 points, and was joined in double-figures by Kiley Bess and Mya Glanton with 12 and 10, respectively. Glanton also pulled down a team-leading seven rebounds, while Bess led the Trees with five steals. Ella Sawyer dished out four assists.
 
Indiana State kept pace early on with 3-pointers from Cain and Bess, but the Sycamores faced an early deficit after Drake scored 24 in the opening quarter. Baskets from Glanton and Sawyer, along with a three-point play from Bess, kept the Sycamores within reach in the second quarter, but the Bulldogs' fast-paced offense saw the Trees down 42-26 at the half. The Sycamores remained within 16 following consecutive makes from Asia Donald and Glanton, but a 19-5 Drake run spanning the third and fourth quarters put the game out of reach.
 
Up Next
Indiana State plays its final road game of the regular season Saturday at Evansville, with tipoff slated for 6 p.m.
 
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