Postseason WNIT | 4/2/2025 10:55:19 AM
As momentum picked up for the Illinois State women’s basketball team this season, you can imagine how the fan base might have worried about certain situations.
“Whoa, whoa Shannon – that sidewalk looks slippery. I can get those groceries for you.”
“Hey Elyce, let’s take it easy going down those stairs. Wouldn’t want you to tweak an ankle.”
“Please Maya, please – I’m happy to chop that onion for you.”
Without almost no exceptions, the same core of five players has started and played the heaviest minutes for the Redbirds this season. And the decision to lean heavily on the group has paid off, with a 24-12 record and Illinois State reaching the Fab 4 of the 2025 Postseason WNIT – the Redbirds will host Troy (23-13) on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. ET.
Head coach Kristen Gillespie, of course, works other players into the mix, but no one is doubting that success depends on the sturdy reliability of Shannon Dowell, Elyce Knudsen, Nevaeh Thomas, Addison Martin and Maya Wong.
“Once you get into conference play, the bench can shorten, so to speak, and we wanted to get that good rhythm early on,” said Gillespie, who is in her eighth year as ISU and has secured three straight 20-plus win seasons. “We found that those five play so well off each other … we do a great job of sharing the ball. We can score in a lot of different ways and each one of those five has their own skill set. It’s a puzzle, and they all fit together. It just made the most sense.
“We love all our players, but those five are doing a great job.”
Knudsen, a grad transfer who was the Division III national player of the year last season, set a program record for 3-pointers in a season (90) and shoots 44 percent from long range. Dowell, a promising sophomore, leads the team at 17.1 points per game and classmate Thomas (a transfer from Evansville) comes through at 12 points and seven rebounds per contest.
Martin played two seasons at Abilene Christian and shoots 58 percent from the field while averaging 11.4 points per game, and Wong (another outstanding 3-point shooter) is a five-year pillar of the Redbirds’ way, starting 134 of 135 games in the past four years.
Illinois State has parlayed this steadiness on the floor into converting more than 38 percent of its 3-pointers (that ranks No. 6 in all of D-I) and also has an enviable assist-to-turnover ratio of 580 to 475.
“It starts with them buying into our system; each year the offense looks a little different because of personnel and what our strengths are, and if players didn’t buy into it those assist and turnover numbers would look different,” Gillespie said. “They revel in sharing the ball, whoever is feeling it, and it can be someone else every night. We can score inside or outside, if the 3’s aren’t falling we don’t panic. But they love to play for each other.”
The roster required some careful attention before the season started, given the mix of older players and younger ones (freshmen Doneelah Washington and Trista Fayta each get about 14 minutes per game), some of whom were transfers.
“Of the 14 players on the roster, we had seven new faces. In today’s college landscape, that probably going to be the norm. We were very intentional through the recruiting process with our transfers … they had to fit an athletic need for how we play, but a lot had to do with character and their fit in our culture” Gillespie said. “We knew we had some many new faces; this summer with our leadership training and team bonding, we did more than we ever have before. We’ve got high character individuals who just want to win. We had some ups-and-downs this season, nothing to do with our identity, but just trying to figure each other out. One thing has been so consistent, they are about one another, having fun.”
Like most teams who miss out on the NCAA Tournament, Illinois State felt the pain when its run in the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament ended with a loss to Drake – a strange game where the Redbirds labored to hit the outside shot. When a WNIT bid was offered, the squad didn’t take much time to embrace the next challenge, and there’s impressive history for the program in the event (19-10 overall in the WNIT since 2000 and 16-3 at home).
“Our expectation is, we want to win our league, we want to get a bid to the NCAA Tournament, and if it doesn’t happen it is a disappointment. That’s what you start working on in June,” Gillespie said. “I give credit to our four seniors who wanted to keep playing, extend the season. No one loved how we lost to Drake, where we played so well but couldn’t make a shot in the last two minutes. It was crushing. But we said, let’s make something magical happen for our seniors, and we also have a great core returning for next year, so let’s get some momentum. Let’s use this as a springboard.”
Illinois State will need to muscle up in taking on Troy, which leads all of D-I in total rebounds and has proven its tenacity by winning consecutive overtime games to reach the WNIT semis.
“I don’t know if we’ve played a team that rebounds it as well as Troy. We’ll have to play with some toughness,” Gillespie added. “And on offense, we need to play with great pace and share the ball.”
GILLESPIE ON THE WNIT – “It’s a privilege to be playing. A lot of teams and players who would have loved another opportunity to put on the uniform. That has been our message. We get to be here. We’re so grateful, to be honest. It’s tough for mid-majors as a lot of us are in a one-bid league (to get into the NCAA Tournament), and no matter what you do in conference you have to be near perfect in a three-game period for (your league tournament). Some really great teams are in the WNIT, and we feel privileged to be in the field. Our goal is to win the dang thing.”