MOLINE, Ill. – A sizzling start propelled Illinois State to the Hoops in the Heartland quarterfinals.

   Freshman Shannon Dowell scored 14 points and the fifth-seeded Redbirds made their first nine shots in rolling past Evansville 85-64 in Game 2 of the Missouri Valley Conference women’s basketball tournament.

  The sharp shooting sent Illinois State into a 22-7 lead and the margin rarely fell below single digits after that as the Redbirds (21-10) beat Evansville for the 14^th straight time. They’ll meet fourth-seeded Northern Iowa in the next round at 2:30 p.m. on Friday.

  Dowell, a member of the Valley’s all-freshman team, went 6-for-8 from the field, grabbed four rebounds, made three steals and handed out an assist.

  DeAnna Wilson and Daijah Smith each scored 11 points for the Redbirds, who shot a season high 60.8 percent. Maya Wong and Brooke Coffey added 10 apiece.

  The big early lead allowed coach Kristen Gillespie to substitute often. The first 11 Illinois State players who got into the game scored – 10 of them in the first 17 minutes.
No one played more than 22 minutes.

  Evansville (4-28), the No. 12 seed, played hard throughout but had too much ground to make up after falling so far behind early in the game. Freshman Neveah Thomas led the Aces with 23 points, one short of her career high. She got 21 of those points in the second half after shooting just 1-for-7 in the opening half.

   Maggie Hartwig added 16 points Evansville and Barbora Tomancova scored 10. This is the sixth straight year the Aces have been sent home in the Thursday session – by six different teams.

   Those first nine shots that Illinois State hit came from six different players. The Redbirds didn’t miss until Wong was off the mark on a long 3-point shot in the final minute of the first quarter, which ended with ISU ahead 23-11.

   A 12-5 run stretched the lead to 39-23 as the Redbirds continued to spread the scoring around and they led 46-28 at the halftime after Smith fed Coffey for a buzzer-beating layup.

   Dowell scored 10 points in a 4-minute third-quarter stretch, including two three-point plays after stealing the ball, as the lead grew to 61-39. It was 70-47 after three quarters and the Redbirds coasted from there in pulling above .500 in Valley tournament play at 28-27, including 7-6 in Moline.