ROLLA, Mo. – The Missouri S&T Lady Miners close out its four-game homestand with visits from McKendree and Illinois Springfield this weekend. This weekend's action starts the second wave of cross divisional play in the Great Lakes Valley Conference.
The Lady Miners will host the Bearcats on Thursday evening at 5:30 p.m. and will then square off against the Prairie Stars on Saturday afternoon at 1 p.m.
S&T comes into play this week looking to end its 10-game losing streak and pick up its first GLVC win of the season. The Lady Miners dropped to 4-15 overall, 0-11 in conference action after suffering home losses to Quincy and Truman State last week.
In last week's games the Lady Miners hung with both teams for long stretches, but in each game couldn't overcome key stretches in the second half of not scoring. They turned the ball over a season-high 28 times in the loss to Quincy last Thursday and then on Saturday shot just 32 percent from the floor in the second half.
Janie Arand (Washington, Mo./St. Francis Borgia) continues to pace the S&T attack averaging 8.3 points per game while
Brittany Andersen (Saint John, Ind./Andrean ) is adding 7.7 a contest.
Elsie Greenwood (Breckenridge, Mo./Penney High School) and
Leigh-Ann Kesper (Edwardsville, Ill./Edwardsville) are adding 7.2 and 7.1 points per game respectively.
The Lady Miners continue to lead the GLVC in three-point shooting connecting on 38.7 percent of its attempts from beyond the arc. Arand leads the team in that category knocking down 45 percent of her attempts while Andersen has converted on 43 percent of her chances and
Linda Pagrode (Jaunolaine, Latvia/Riga 99) made 40 percent of her three-point attempts.
McKendree comes into Thursday's game with a record of 2-17 overall and 1-10 in the GLVC. The Bearcats have dropped four straight since picking up a win at Illinois Springfield on Jan. 19. McKendree suffered a pair of home losses last week dropping a 67-53 decision to Southern Indiana and then lost to Bellarmine 64-56.
Caty Ponce, who established a new Bearcat record for career three-point baskets last week when she hit her 197th against Bellarmine, is one of three players who are averaging in double figures for McKendree. Gabrielle Williams is at 11 points a game and is shooting a league-best 58.6 percent from the field, while Jameeka Bouie is averaging 10.5 a contest.
Ponce also leads the Bearcats in assists with 56, while Amber Anderson has recorded 31 steals which ranks in the league's top 10.
Illinois Springfield is 5-14, 1-10 in GLVC play heading into its game Thursday at Drury and is currently riding a seven-game losing streak since defeating Truman State back on Jan. 10.
Jameeshia Armstrong leads the Prairie Stars in scoring averaging 9.2 per game while Shelbi Patterson is dropping home 9.0 a contest. Syerra Cunningham and Courtney Knuckles are averaging 8.4 and 8.3 points per game.
As a team, UIS is shooting 40.2 percent from the field, has made 82 of its 292 attempts (28.1 percent) from beyond the arc and has converted on just 65.4 percent of its chances at the foul line. The Prairie Stars are outrebounding their opponents by over five rebounds per game, but have turned the ball over an average of 19.2 times per game.
Thursday's linksGame Notes – Lady Miners vs. McKendreeLive Video Live AudioLive Stats Saturday's linksGame Notes – Lady Miners vs. Illinois SpringfieldLive VideoLive AudioLive Stats
