By: John Kean, Sports Information Director
UPDATE (9:30 a.m., Thursday, Feb. 21): The games with Rockhurst have been postponed until Monday, Feb. 25 due to the winter storm in the region. The women's game will begin at 5:30 p.m. and the men's game follows at 7:30 p.m.
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ROLLA, Mo. – Missouri S&T's basketball teams will play host to Rockhurst University Thursday night at Billy Key Court before hitting the road for their final road tilt of the Great Lakes Valley Conference season Saturday afternoon with a twinbill in Liberty, Mo., against William Jewell College.
The Lady Miners enter play this week just one game out of first place in the GLVC's West Division and in contention for a first round bye for the Deaconess GLVC Basketball Championships. The first order of business will be dealing with a Rockhurst team Thursday that held them to their lowest point total of the season in a 50-34 loss in Kansas City last month. The women's game will begin at 5:30 p.m., followed by the men's contest at 7:30 p.m.
The Miners got one of their two GLVC wins of the season at the expense of Rockhurst on Jan. 31, then will head back to the Kansas City area on Saturday looking to avenge an 89-74 setback to William Jewell in Rolla. Saturday's doubleheader will start at 1 p.m. with the women's contest; the men are slated to tip off at 3 p.m.
Women's Game – Lady Miners vs. Rockhurst
With a pair of come-from-behind wins on the road last week, Missouri S&T (14-9, 10-5 GLVC) was able to draw to within one game of GLVC West leader Quincy with three games to play. The Lady Miners open the final leg of the schedule at home against a Rockhurst team that has been one of the better defensive squads in the GLVC this season.
The Hawks (7-16, 4-11 GLVC) are holding opponents to just 58.8 points per game and held S&T to a season-low 34 in the meeting in Kansas City last month. In its 23 games this year, only four times has an opponent scored as many as 70 points against Rockhurst. However, the Hawks themselves rank 14
th in the GLVC in scoring as they are averaging just 57.1 points a game and do not have a single player ranked among the top 20 in the conference in scoring.
Kara McFarland leads the Hawks in scoring with an average of 9.7 points per game and is also Rockhurst's top rebounder with 5.9 a contest, while Kendall Hart is scoring 9.2 per outing. As a team, the Hawks are shooting 36.8 percent from the field and just 28.9 percent from three-point range.
Hailee Parks (Sullivan, Mo./Sullivan) continues to lead the Lady Miners in scoring with an average of 14.2 points a game – which ranks 11
th in the GLVC – and also leads the way on the boards with an average of 7.7 per game. Parks' 53.5 shooting mark from the field is second in the conference, while
Toni Knar (Mundelein, Ill./Mundelein) ranks eighth in three-pointers per game in the GLVC and ninth in three-point percentage at 38.9 percent.
Men's Game – Miners vs. Rockhurst
The Miners (6-16, 2-13 GLVC) head into their next-to-last home game of the 2012-13 season looking to complete a season sweep over Rockhurst, whom they beat 69-65 in Kansas City on the last day of January. Mudi Eruteya, S&T's leader in scoring, rebounds and assists, had a huge game in the first meeting as he finished with 23 points, six boards and six assists; his basket with 8:38 to play gave S&T the lead for good in a game where the Hawks shot 68 percent in the second half.
Eruteya is averaging 13.9 points per game on the season and is fourth in the GLVC in rebounding with 7.9 per game. He is also sixth in the league in assists with a team-high total of 78.
Missouri S&T is also getting 10.6 points a game from
Nusrath Khan (Morton Grove, Ill./Maine East), while Zach Ellis and
Michael Jackson (Wichita, Kan./Wichita East) are each averaging eight points per contest.
Rockhurst (4-18, 3-12 GLVC) has won all three of its GLVC games away from home, including a win last week against a 21-win Maryville team in St. Louis. The Hawks have struggled on the offensive end of the floor for the better part of the season, averaging just 58.8 points per game which is nearly eight less than the next-lowest team in the conference and shooting only 40 percent from the field.
Brandon McCann is the lone Hawk averaging in double figures with an average of 12.5 points per game, with a team-high 48 three-point baskets that ranks sixth in the GLVC. James Robinson is scoring just over nine points a game, while center Cooper Beckett leads Rockhurst with 4.9 rebounds per contest.
Saturday's Opponent: William Jewell
William Jewell's women (14-9, 8-7 GLVC), who are scheduled to play at Drury Thursday, are coming off a week in which it lost a game at Missouri-St. Louis on a shot at the buzzer after taking the lead with 0.6 seconds to go – and followed that up by winning 62-59 Saturday at Maryville to keep the Saints from moving into a tie for first place in the GLVC West.
Chelsea Meeks, who hit the go-ahead shot in the game at UMSL, leads the Cardinals in scoring with an average of 12,7 points per game; she followed up her 21-point outing at UMSL by sharing team scoring honors with Cassy Nicolay with 14 at Maryville. Katlyn Wood is scoring 10.5 points a game and Nicolay is scoring nine per contest and shares the rebounding lead with Wood with 5.7 a game.
The Cardinals are shooting only 39.5 percent as a team, but get a lot of three-point production from Meeks, Wood and Kelsey Nickerson as they have combined for 59 percent of the team's treys and are shooting a combined 38.7 percent from beyond the arc.
Meeks had 21 points and Aerial Smith added 14 for William Jewell in the first meeting between the teams, but S&T's
Kyesha Hall (Dodson, La./) had a career-high 25 in the 64-55 Lady Miner win on Feb. 2.
William Jewell's men are 11-12 overall and have clinched a spot in the Deaconess GLVC Basketball Championships with its 7-8 mark in league play. The Cardinals upended Missouri-St. Louis last Thursday before losing a three-point decision at Maryville two days later.
Dillon Deck, who did not play in the first meeting between the teams while serving a one-game suspension for a flagrant foul, leads the Cardinals in scoring with an average of 14.4 points per game and ranks third in the conference with eight boards per game. He is shooting 52.1 percent from the floor and also leads the team in blocked shots with 25.
John Taylor, who led William Jewell with 18 points in the first meeting in Rolla, is scoring 10.4 point a game and Dwight Sistrunk is averaging 9.6 a game with 102 assists.
Women's Game Notes: Lady Miners vs. William Jewell
Men's Game Notes: Miners vs. Rockhurst (Monday's game)
Women's Live Stats (Monday vs. Rockhurst)
Men's Live Stats (Monday vs. Rockhurst)
Live Audio
Live Video (Monday vs. Rockhurst)