Rolla, Mo. – The Missouri S&T Lady Miners look to build off last Saturday's win over Southern Indiana as it hits the road for a pair of games at McKendree and Illinois Springfield this weekend. The Lady Miners and Bearcats will meet on Thursday at 5:30 p.m. in Lebanon, Ill., and then S&T will head up to Springfield, Ill., to do battle against the Prairie Stars on Saturday afternoon at 1 p.m.
The Lady Miners (7-13, 3-10 GLVC) are still in the mix for a spot in the GLVC Tournament sitting just a game out of a playoff spot with five games to play but know they need to string some wins together. They'll have the chance to do so as their next four opponents all have sub .500 records in conference play.
S&T put together one of its better games this season against Southern Indiana shooting 53 percent (28-for-53) from the field and made a season-high nine three-pointers in the 76-69 victory.
Raetchel Gray (Allen, Okla./Byng ) led the Lady Miners with a career-high 24 points while
Janie Arand (Washington, Mo./St. Francis Borgia) added 16 of her season-high 18 points in the second half.
Bria Pierce (Overland Park, Kan./Blue Valley North) continues to lead the team in scoring with her 10.8 points per game while Gray has upped her scoring to 10.1 per contest.
Jamy Douvier (Sedgwick, Kan./Sunrise Christian Academy) and Arand are averaging 8.8 and 8.2 points a game respectively.
McKendree enters Thursday's contest with a record of 10-13 overall, 5-8 in the GLVC and has lost three straight. Over their last six games the Bearcats have allowed only 51.5 points per game holding five of those opponents to under 60 points. They're defense has been of the stingiest in the conference this season allowing just 56.6 points per game.
It's been a different story offensively as McKendree is averaging just 56.2 points a contest and have been held to under 50 points nine times this season.
Ellie Pusheck tops the Bearcat scoring list averaging 9.0 points per game, while Kacey Johnson is at 8.7 a contest and Kelsee Ennis is scoring 7.6 per game. McKendree has three players who have combined for 53 of its 80 three-point shots this season, led by Ashley Klass's 22. Ennis is hitting 28.8 percent of her long-range attempts, while Pusheck is shooting 45.6 percent overall and is 14
th in the GLVC with 23 blocked shots.
Illinois Springfield had its two-game winning streak snapped in a 61-53 loss at Missouri-St. Louis this past Saturday. The Prairie Stars are 8-13 overall, 2-11 GLVC and have dropped five of their last seven contests heading into Thursday's contest against Drury.
The Stars have struggled offensively as well averaging just 59.6 points a game but have been held to only 55 points a contest in league play. They're shooting 38.1 percent (477-for-1253) from the field, have connected on 114-of-366 attempts (31.1 percent) from beyond the arc and are shooting under 60 percent at the foul line.
Shelbi Patterson tops the UIS scoring list averaging 10 points per game, while Ashley McHenry is at 9.9 a contest and Syerra Cunningham is scoring 8.8 per game. Cunningham leads the team in rebounding with 8.3 rebounds per game while Patterson leads the squad in assists (66) and steals (37).
