ROLLA, Mo. – A new week brings new opportunity as the Missouri S&T women's basketball team will look to get back in the win column with three GLVC contests in five days starting Thursday evening at Gibson Arena as Truman State comes to town followed by William Jewell Saturday before a trip to Quincy on Monday.
 
The Miners (4-7, 1-4) are coming off a 74-39 loss to UMSL Saturday afternoon on the road and will look to use home court advantage in their first two games of the weekend to get back in the win column. S&T has three of their four wins home this season and averaging 72.6 PPG at Gibson Arena for the year.
 
Laura Rodriguez (Gran Canaria, Spain/Baloncesto Torrelodones) ranks among the top of the GLVC in scoring with 13.6 PPG and continues to shoot the ball well, entering the week just under 40% from the field and shooting .340 from beyond the arc. The Gran Canaria, Spain native is coming off back-to-back double-figure scoring games and scored at least 20 in eight of 11 games this season. Alex Kerr (St. Louis, Mo./St. Joseph's Academy) has gone for 10 or more in three-straight games and is now averaging 11.5 PPG for the season with 4.8 rebounds per contests as well. Kristen Keys (St. Louis, MO/Westminster Christian Academy) (7.8 PPG) leads the team with 21 assists and is also near the 40% mark shooting the ball this season also. Freshman Katleynne Roberts (7.5 PPG) still leads the GLVC by a wide margin with 25 blocked shots and is the team's leading rebounder with 5.7 RPG. Eryn Puett (Columbia, MO/Rock Bridge) (7.4 PPG) is shooting .435 from the floor this season while Jada Lindesmith (Cincinnati, Ohio/Lutheran) (7.1 PPG) is the team leader from behind the arc, shooting the three-ball at a .366 clip. For the season, S&T is shooting .415 from the field and .320 from deep and is tied for fifth in the GLVC with 85 steals.
 
Truman State (8-5, 4-1) comes into play Thursday on a five-game winning streak going back to December 4 and most recently beat McKendree 79-55 in Lebanon and Lewis 83-75 in Kirksville. Four of their last five wins have been over GLVC opponent and they have won those games by an average margin of 11 points.
 
A quartet of Bulldogs are scoring better than 10 points per night, led by Hannah Belanger at 18.4 PPG, the second-best mark in the GLVC this season. The former GLVC Freshman of the year was held to just three points Saturday against the Bearcats, but has scored in double-figures 12 times this season and gone for 20 or more five times. Her 88 made field goals and 32 made triples lead the team, while her 61 assists lead the conference. Ellie Weltha enters the week averaging a double-double for the season (15.9 PPG/10.5 RPG) while Maddie Re is averaging 12.0 PPG and has a team-best 10 steals. Rounding out the group is Katey Klucking (11.2 RPG) who leads the Bulldogs with 10 blocked shots this season and ranks second with 43 assists. As a team, Truman State is shooting .469 from the floor but just .292 from beyond the arc.
 
William Jewell (1-10, 0-5) has dropped three-straight games after picking up their first win of the season December 16 at Home against Graceland 64-53. The Cardinals' fell to Rockhurst 71-48 last Tuesday at home before being downed by Quincy 69-38 Saturday. WJC wraps up their three-game homestand Thursday evening when GLVC West Division leader #1 Drury heads to the Mabee Center.
 
The Cardinals are paced on offense by Kate Hillyer, who leads the team in scoring (9.5 PPG), rebounding (5.8 RPG), field goal percentage (.402), made field goals (39), three-point field goal percentage (.340), made three-point field goals (17) and minutes (29.3 MPG). Libby Arnold is the second leading scorer for WJC with 9.2 PPG and leads the team with 25 made free throws while going .735 from the stripe. Katie Knock's eight blocks and 23 assists both lead the team while she averages 6.0 PPG. As a unit, William Jewell is shooting .322 from the floor and .227 from three.
 
S&T won the first matchup between the two teams this season 74-62 in Liberty back on December 2 and snapped a six-game skid in the series.
 
Quincy (5-8, 1-4) opened 2022 with back-to-back losses to Truman State and Southwest Baptist by scores of 68-59 and 75-63 before beating William Jewell Saturday. Before hosting the Miners, QU will play host to Maryville Thursday evening and Lindenwood Saturday afternoon at Pepsi Arena.
 
Beth Matas Martin leads QU in scoring at 10.6 PPG and her 46 assists are among the top three in the GLVC this season. Sarah Nelson comes in averaging 9.2 PPG and is the team leader in field goal percentage, shooting at a .521 clip. Emma Knipe is the Hawks' leading rebounder at 5.2 RPG while scoring 5.8 PPG while Maddie Spagnola's 20 steals lead the team, and her 33 assists rank second. A trio of players are tied for the team lead in blocked shots with three and four players have at least 25 assists this season. For the year, Quincy is shooting .412 from the field and .313 from three while going .706 from the stripe.
 
Last season, Truman State won the lone matchup with the Miners 83-71 in Kirksville and have now won the last 10 games of the series to lead 38-24 all-time. Against Quincy, S&T leads the all-time series 22-17 and has won four-straight, including last season's contest in Rolla by a score of 76-61. The last time S&T played in Quincy was January 2020, a game which they won 91-76.