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| SportsThursday, December 22, 2005 12:42 PM CST |
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Cirone, ISU race past Texas-El Paso
Special to The Pantagraph EL PASO, Texas -- Freshman guard Kristi Cirone matched her career high with 17 of her 27 points in the first half to lead Illinois State to an 83-71 nonconference women's basketball win over Texas-El Paso at the Don Haskins Center. Cirone hit eight of 10 field goals, including four of six 3s, and made seven of eight free throws for her 27 points. She added three rebounds, two assists and two steals. In a physical game which included 51 fouls and 55 free throws, Cirone took some tough shots but got up battling. "Both teams were physical," said Cirone, who leads ISU in scoring and assists this season. "But we wanted to put them on their heels and, in the second half, we were able to do that." Redbird coach Robin Pingeton applauded Cirone's efforts as the Redbirds hit 25 of 33 free throws and advanced to 5-3 for the season. ISU has a chance to tie the school record with a sixth nonconference victory Thursday at Illinois. "Kristi is a special player who can do special things for this program," said Pingeton, whose team went to 18-0 in her three seasons at Illinois State when scoring 80 or more points. "She has ice water in her veins. She's so locked in to helping this program, she'll do whatever it takes to get us where we're going." ISU earned just its fifth win in 23 years in the first game after fall semester finals week. "It was a tough week of finals for our girls and a long day traveling out here (Friday)," said Pingeton. "But I'm pleased with our team's approach. We started aggressively and put together a strong effort." The game had a downside, though. With 3:02 left in the game, freshman center Nicolle Lewis fell to the floor trying to catch a pass over her shoulder on a fast break, injuring her right knee. Lewis had a career-high 12 points before being injured. She will be evaluated by medical personnel after the Redbirds return to Normal on Monday. Junior guard Catherine Graham and freshman forward Brea Banks made their first career starts for Illinois State. It's the first time in five seasons the Redbirds have started three freshmen in the same game. Graham assisted on three of Illinois State's first six baskets and scored one herself to help the Redbirds take a 15-10 lead in the first seven minutes. But an 11-2 Miner run helped UTEP go up 23-18. Ashley Sandstead came off the Redbird bench and passed to Tiffany Hudson for a 3-pointer and hit a short jumper of her own the pull ISU back even. The teams traded baskets until ISU broke loose from a 28-28 tie in the final 3:30 of the half starting with two Lewis free throws, then three more by Lashawn Johnson. After Izabel Piekarska scored for UTEP, Cirone drained a turnaround jumper ahead of a nearly-drained shot clock and ISU led 35-30. The Redbirds led 37-35 after Tay Hester's two UTEP free throws with 49 seconds left, but Cirone hit a pair of free throws and a layup after a Sandstead steal with 22 seconds left as the Redbirds led 41-36 at halftime. The Redbirds play their final nonconference game of the season at 7:05 p.m. Thursday against Illinois at the Assembly Hall in Champaign. Get area high school sports scores and statistics at Varsity Sports. E-mail this story | Print this story | Search archives | RSS Show comments |  Hide comments | Hide comments on all stories |
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