ROLLA, Mo. – Missouri S&T's basketball teams head to the state of Illinois for a critical weekend of Great Lakes Valley Conference play with regards to their status in next month's conference tournament.

For the Lady Miners, they are looking to get themselves back on the winning track.  S&T has dropped four of its last five games to fall from the top of the GLVC West Division at 7-1 to third place at 8-5 and in danger of falling to a ninth seed overall or lower – which would send it on the road in the opening round of the tournament.

In the case of the Miners, it is a matter of just getting into the tournament.  Missouri S&T comes into play Thursday with a GLVC mark of 2-11 and need to pass at least two more teams to make the field, but are two games behind two teams and three in back of a third – but two of those three immediately ahead of them are on the slate this weekend.

It starts Thursday when the Lady Miners and Miners play at Illinois Springfield; the women's game tips off at 5:30 p.m. and the men's game will follow at 7:30 p.m.  Missouri S&T then play at Quincy Saturday afternoon, with the women's game against the current GLVC leaders starting at 1 p.m. and the men's game at 3:15 p.m. at Pepsi Arena.

Women's Game: Lady Miners vs. Illinois Springfield

Missouri S&T will open the week looking to reverse its recent trend against the team that enters the week in the division cellar.  However, the Lady Miners (12-9, 8-5 GLVC) did not have an easy time with the Prairie Stars (5-16, 2-11 GLVC) when they played in Rolla, as they led by only four with just under 11 minutes to play before eventually winning 76-63.

Since then, S&T has struggled on the offensive end of the floor, shooting only 39.7 percent from the field – reaching the 40 percent mark in just of the last six contests – making only 19 of their last 70 three-point attempts and turning the ball over 19.8 times per game, more than one turnover above their season average.

The Lady Miners will look to their leading scorer on the season to get them out of the slump, as Hailee Parks (Sullivan, Mo./Sullivan) continues to lead the team in scoring with an average of 14.7 points a game.  She is currently eighth in the GLVC in scoring, second in field goal percentage at 54 percent and is averaging eight rebounds a game that has her fourth in the conference.

Parks, who had a game-high 23 points in the January matchup between the teams, is the lone Lady Miner averaging in double figures as the week begins.  Toni Knar (Mundelein, Ill./Mundelein) is scoring 9.8 points per contest and leads the team with 47 three-point baskets.

Illinois Springfield, who upended the Lady Miners 64-58 in Springfield a year ago, has dropped 11 of its last 12 games and is coming off a 76-60 loss Saturday at William Jewell.  The Prairie Stars rank last in the GLVC in scoring at 55.8 points per game and has not reached the 40 percent mark from the field in any of their last five outings.

Megan Bergerud leads UIS in scoring with an average of 12.5 points per game and is shooting 39.3 percent from three-point range, the seventh-best mark in the GLVC, while Elizabeth Kelly leads in rebounding with 7.8 per game.  Carly Goede had 14 points in the first meeting with S&T.

If the Lady Miners win at UIS and either Drury or Rockhurst loses its contest Thursday night, Missouri S&T will clinch a berth to the Deaconess GLVC Basketball Championships.

Men's Game: Miners vs. Illinois Springfield

Missouri S&T (6-14, 2-11 GLVC) has five games remaining on its schedule to make up at least a two-game deficit in its efforts to make the Deaconess GLVC Tournament – and one of those two teams is Thursday's opponent.  The Prairie Stars (6-14, 4-9 GLVC) are tied with Saint Joseph's for the last of the 12 playoff spots, but a win by the Miners Thursday would give S&T a season sweep over UIS and the tiebreaker over it in the event of a head-to-head tie. 

A loss, however, would put the Miners in dire straits in terms of making the tournament, as they would fall three games out of the last spot with only four games to go.

The Miners did knock off Illinois Springfield in the earlier matchup in Rolla, getting a monster game from Mudi Eruteya in the 69-60 victory.  The junior guard had a double-double in the game with 14 points and 11 rebounds and fell one assist shy of the school's first-ever triple-double as he finished with nine.

For the season, Eruteya leads the Miners in scoring with an average of 13.5 points per game, in assists with 72 and in rebounding with an average of 7.8 a game that ranks fourth in the GLVC.  Nusrath Khan (Morton Grove, Ill./Maine East) is also scoring in double figures with 10.6 points a game.

Illinois Springfield is paced by Kyle Gupton, who averages 11.9 points a game and 6-10 sophomore center Dylan Sparkman, who averages 10.9 points and 5.5 rebounds per game.  Gupton is 11^th in the GLVC in three-point shooting at 40.7 percent and has a team-high 48 treys on the year, but was held without a three-pointer in the matchup in Rolla and has made only three of his last 17 attempts from beyond the arc.

Saturday's Opponent: Quincy

The Lady Miners had arguably their most impressive outing of the 2012-13 season on Jan. 17 when they thumped Quincy 74-53 in Rolla, shooting a season-best 60.9 percent from the field while holding the Hawks to just 34 percent shooting and forcing 22 turnovers.

However, Quincy has rebounded from that setback and heads into play this week as the holders of the top spot in the GLVC West at 11-2; the Hawks are 13-8 overall.  Much of that is due to its play on the defensive end, as since the Lady Miners had the big night against them from the floor, only William Jewell – the other team to knock off QU in league play – has shot better than 42.3 percent against them in a game.  Quincy's last four opponents have averaged only 49.3 points per contest.

Lucy Cramsey leads a balanced scoring attack for the Hawks with an average of 12.2 points a game, while Kelly Buresh is scoring 12 per game and Hannah Weedman is putting up 10 points a night.  Buresh, a 42.5 percent shooter from three-point range, did not play in the first meeting between the teams in January.

Quincy's men head into Thursday's matchup with No. 18-ranked Drury at 10-11 overall and 5-8 in the GLVC, but won both of its games on its weekend road trip to the Kansas City area.  Chris Babbitt, the Hawks' leading scorer with an average of 15 points per game, scored a career-high 27 points in the win at Rockhurst and has been in double figures in the scoring column in 16 consecutive games.

Babbitt is ninth in the GLVC in scoring for a team that ranks in the bottom half of the conference in field goal and three-point shooting, but sits third in free throw shooting at 75.5 percent.  Tyler Thompson is also in double figures at 13.1 points a game and shares the rebounding lead with Babbitt at five per contest.

Women's Game Notes: Lady Miners vs. Quincy
Men's Game Notes: Miners vs. Quincy

Live Stats (Women vs. Quincy)
Live Stats (Men vs. Quincy)

Live Video
Live Audio