TERRE HAUTE, Ind. – Indiana State begins its two-game Iowa road swing Thursday night when it visits Northern Iowa for a 7 p.m. tip in Cedar Falls.
 
Thursday's game will be aired on ESPN+, and John Sherman will also have the radio call on WVIG-FM/105.5 The Legend.
 
Last Time Out
Jayci Allen led a trio of double-digit scorers for Indiana State with 13 points off the bench Saturday afternoon, but the Sycamores allowed visiting Bradley to hit 13 threes on a 52 percent clip in an 85-75 defeat inside Hulman Center.
 
Samiyah Briggs and Kennedy Claybrooks followed with 12 and 10 points, respectively. Amerie Flowers pulled down a game-high 12 rebounds, and Clemisha Prackett added seven points off the bench. Claybrooks also tallied a game-high four steals and a team-high four assists, while Da'Naria Washington contributed two blocks on the defensive end.
 
Bradley built momentum through key runs to pull away from Indiana State after a slow start. The Sycamores gained an early edge and held a slim lead after the first quarter, but the Braves used a strong second-quarter surge to take a narrow advantage into halftime. Bradley carried that momentum into the third quarter with an early run to create separation, hitting eight threes in the second half. Despite the Sycamores' effort down the stretch, the Braves maintained control late to secure an 85-75 victory.
 
Stepping Up
Indiana State sophomore forward Amerie Flowers has taken her game to a new level in recent weeks, with the Willowbrook, Illinois, native averaging 16.0 points and 7.3 rebounds per game over the last four contests.
 
Flowers has scored in double-figures in three of the Sycamores' last four games, including a career-high 27-point performance against league-leading Murray State. Flowers was an efficient 12-for-17 from the floor (70.6 percent), with her 27 points being the most by a Sycamore post player since the first round of the 2024 MVC Tournament when Mya Glanton had 30 in a win over Southern Illinois.
 
Flowers also pulled down her most rebounds in a conference game during her recent four-game uptick in form, finishing with 12 boards against Bradley. She has been efficient throughout the last two weeks, shooting 56.3 percent from the floor and 73.3 percent from the charity stripe.
 
Picking Up The Pace
Indiana State is on pace for its highest-scoring season in nearly 20 years, with the Sycamores' up-tempo style of play being a large contributor to that.
 
The Sycamores rank eighth nationally in possessions per 40 minutes at 78.6, the second-highest in the MVC in the last 15 seasons. Indiana State (2025-26, eighth) and Murray State (2023-24, sixth; 2024-25, ninth) are the only MVC schools to rank in the top 10 in pace over the last 15 seasons
 
Indiana State's two seasons under head coach Marc Mitchell rank among the MVC's 10 most up-tempo seasons in the last 15 years (78.6 possessions per 40 in 2025-26, 75.9 possessions per 40 in 2024-25).
 
Indiana State enters the weekend averaging 73.4 points per game overall and 74.2 points per game in conference play. This season's scoring average is on pace to be the Sycamores' highest-scoring season since the 2006-07 campaign, when the Trees averaged 77.6 points per game. Indiana State has averaged more than 70 points per game just five times in the last 30 seasons (2002-03, 2003-04, 2004-05, 2005-06, 2006-07).
 
Post Presence
Indiana State has placed a priority on the interior in recent weeks, with the Sycamores generating 30-plus paint points in 11 of their last 12 games, including each of the last seven. The Blue and White have posted a pair of games with 40-plus paint points in that span, tallying 40 points in the paint against Valparaiso and matching their season high of 48 paint points against Murray State.
 
The Trees are averaging 32.5 paint points per game for the season, with that number increasing to 37.7 paint points per game over the last seven contests.
 
The Sycamores feature a pair of post players among their top scorers during the recent seven-game stretch, with Clemisha Prackett averaging 12.1 points per game and Amerie Flowers adding 11.1 points per contest.
 
Both Prackett (57.1 percent) and Flowers (56.9 percent) are knocking down more than half of their attempts from the field over the last seven games.
 
Roaring 20s
Indiana State featured a post player with a 20-point outing twice in the span of a week, as Amerie Flowers tallied a career-high 27 points against Murray State and Clemisha Prackett recorded a career-high 20 points in the Sycamores' road win at Evansville
 
Flowers and Prackett joined Tierney Kelsey (four times) and Jayci Allen (once) as Sycamores with a 20-point game this season, with the post players producing the Sycamores' highest-scoring outings in conference play this season.
 
Prackett's 20-point performance came on one of her most efficient outings from the field this season. The junior post player went 7-for-11 from the floor (63.6 percent) and was 6-for-8 from the charity stripe.
 
Flowers had arguably the best offensive performance by a Sycamore this season in her 27-point outing, going 12-for-17 from the floor (70.6 percent) and 3-for-4 from the charity stripe. Her 27 points, 12 field goals and 17 field goal attempts were all career-high marks.
 
Doubling Up
After winning just four total games and two conference games during the 2024-25 season, Indiana State has far exceeded those totals in the 2025-26 campaign, with eight total wins and four conference wins. The Sycamores already own a pair of season sweeps in conference play over Valparaiso and Evansville, despite being the near-consensus preseason pick to finish last in the conference.
 
Indiana State's four-win improvement is already the program's best since the 2021-22 season, when the Sycamores recorded a six-win improvement from the 2020-21 season. The Trees also have five home wins this season, the program's highest total since the 2022-23 campaign.
 
On This Date
Indiana State owns an 11-8 record in games played on this date, including a 4-5 record in road games played on February 12.
 
The Sycamores are 2-2 against Northern Iowa on this date, with wins in 2006 (53-41) and 2012 (71-60) and losses in 2000 (66-69) and 2016 (45-61).
 
1977 – Cincinnati (W, 89-59)
1980 – at Ball State (W, 75-67)
1983 – National College (W, 87-53)
1985 – at Butler (W, 75-57)
1987 – at Southern Illinois (L, 67-80)
1988 – at Illinois State (L, 53-95)
1999 – at Wichita State (W, 50-46)
2000 – Northern Iowa (L, 66-69)
2004 – at Southern Illinois (W, 98-84)
2005 – at Missouri State (L, 70-71)
2006 – Northern Iowa (W, 53-41)
2009 – Wichita State (W, 71-50)
2010 – Missouri State (L, 58-69)
2011 – Wichita State (W, 65-57)
2012 – Northern Iowa (W, 71-60)
2016 – Northern Iowa (L, 45-61)
2017 – Loyola Chicago (W, 53-32)
2022 – at Evansville (L, 56-58)
2023 – at Belmont (L, 69-81)
 
Northern Iowa At A Glance
Northern Iowa enters Thursday's game at 12-11 overall and 7-6 in conference play. Similar to the Sycamores, the Panthers have lost two straight to top-three conference opponents in Bradley and Belmont.
 
Ryley Goebel leads the Panthers with 13.1 points, 7.9 rebounds, 2.0 steals and 2.4 blocks per game, while Jenna Twedt also averages double-digits at 13.0 points per game. Elise Jaeger leads Northern Iowa in rebounding at 10.2 boards per game, while three Panthers - Bri Robinson, Jaeger and Taryn Wharton - average more than two assists per game.
 
Tanya Warren is in her 19th season as head coach at Northern Iowa and owns a 350-256 record at the helm of the Panthers. Warren, the longest-tenured coach among active MVC head coaches, is the Valley's winningest head coach.
 
Series History Against Northern Iowa
Indiana State is 42-44 all-time against Northern Iowa, including a 16-24 mark in Cedar Falls. The Panthers have won the last nine in the series.
 
The Sycamores' last win in the series came during the 2019-20 season in Terre Haute. Indiana State's last win in Cedar Falls came in the 2013-14 season.
 
Last Meeting Against Northern Iowa (March 13, 2025)
Indiana State's season came to a conclusion, as the Sycamores fell to Northern Iowa 87-73 in the opening round of the 2025 Credit Union 1 MVC Women's Basketball Championship inside the Ford Center.
 
Deja Jones led the Blue and White with 17 points, and also had seven rebounds and three assists. Queen Ruffin added a season-high 15 points off the bench, while Keslyn Secrist also finished in double-figures with 14.
 
Indiana State started strong, hitting five of its first eight shots, but a 15-0 run Northern Iowa spanning parts of the first and second quarters proved costly for the Sycamores. Facing a double-digit deficit at the break, the Sycamore offense came to life with Ruffin scoring 10 third-quarter points and Indiana State knocking down a trio of threes in the period. Indiana State got within 10 in the fourth with Secrist, Ruffin and Savannah White all scoring early in the final frame, but the Sycamores couldn't piece together a rally in the end.
 
Up Next
Indiana State's two-game stay in Iowa concludes with a Saturday afternoon tilt at Drake, with tipoff between the Sycamores and Bulldogs set for 3 p.m.
 
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.