Hall of Fame
A member of the Missouri Valley Conference All-Centennial Team, Kristi Cirone was a three-time MVC Jackie Stiles Player of the Year (2007-09), becoming only the second player in the history of the conference to win the award in three-consecutive years, with the other being the award’s namesake.
The native of Chicago, Ill., Cirone was a two-time Scholar-Athlete First-Team Selection and a Second-Team selection as a sophomore in 2007. Notably, Cirone was also a four-time All-MVC selection and three-time MVC All-Defensive Team selection. While at Illinois State, she was a two-time WBCA and Associated Press Honorable Mention All-American. She was named a John Wooden nominee as one the nation’s best players and was also a nominee for the Nancy Lieberman Award, which is awarded to the nation’s top collegiate point guard.
As a member of Redbird teams, she guided Illinois State to two WNIT berths and one NCAA Tournament berth during her career, while leading the Redbirds to back-to-back MVC regular-season championships in 2008 and 2009. She is Illinois State’s all-time leader in points (2,139), three-point field goals made (229), three-point field goals attempted (613), free throws made (512), free throws attempted (655), assists (681), and assists per game (5.3). She also holds ISU single-season records for points in a season (657) and assists (203).
Other honors include a 2008 MVC Tournament MVP, 2006 MVC Freshman of the Year and the 2008 and 2009 Jill Hutchison ISU Female Athlete of the Year.
Following her collegiate career, played professionally in Greece and Poland and the WNBA, with the Connecticut Sun and Chicago Sky. Her No. 10 jersey was retired by Illinois State in 2010, making her one of three women’s basketball players to have her number retired in the rafters of Redbird Arena. Cirone was inducted into the Illinois State Athletics Percy Family Hall of Fame in 2015 and is also a member of the MVC Women’s Basketball 25th Anniversary Team. She served as the head women’s basketball coach at Judson University in Elgin, Ill., from 2013-18, finishing her tenure there as the third-winningest coach in program history in both wins (82) and winning percentage. Cirone currently is the Head Girls Basketball Coach at Ridgewood High School in Illinois.