ROLLA, Mo. - The Missouri S&T women's basketball team will conclude its three-game road stretch against Mid-American Intercollegiate Athletics Association opponents Wednesday as the Miners face a very talented Missouri Southern team in Joplin, Mo. starting at 5:30 p.m. in Leggett & Platt Athletic Center. 
 
The Miners (2-3) enter the game coming off a split of its their two games at the University of Central Oklahoma Classic last weekend. Laura Rodriguez (Gran Canaria, Spain/Baloncesto Torrelodones) erupted for 25 points against the host school and added 24 points the next day in a 73-42 win over Newman; she leads the Miners in scoring with an average of 13.8 points per game.

In the loss to UCO, Alex Kerr (St. Louis, MO/St. Joseph's Academy) notched her 22nd career double-double with 15 points and 10 rebounds and comes into the week averaging 12.2 points and a team-high 7.4 rebounds per contest. Anna Finley (Owensville, MO/Owensville) has started the past two games while averaging 32 minutes per contest.    
 
ABOUT MSSU:
The Lions (5-0) enter the game ranked 10^th in the latest WBCA national poll and fourth in the D2SIDA rankings, as the MIAA favorites are coming off a season in which they 24-7 overall and 19-3 in MIAA play that earned them the regular season championship.  MSSU reached the NCAA Division II Central Regional where it lost St. Cloud State where the Lions lost in overtime. 
 
This season, MSSU has defeated 23^rd-ranked Lubbock Christian and two other teams receiving votes in Minnesota Duluth and Harding. In their previous game against Angelo State, Kryslyn Jones led all Lions with 18 points while blocking two shots. Lacy Stokes fell just short of a double-double with 17 points while hauling down nine rebounds and Amaya Johns contributed 16 points off the bench and led all Lions with six rebounds. 
 
Stokes is the Bearcats top scorer as she is averaging 18.6 points while grabbing 3.8 rebounds in 32.8 minutes per contest, while leading the Lions with 34 assists and 12 steals. Madi Stokes enters the game averaging a double-double with 12.8 points while averaging 10 rebounds per game to lead MSSU for the season. The Lions also added four transfers to the roster in Jones from Texas A&M-Kingsville, guard Cameron Call from Illinois State, guard/forward Johns from Frank Phillips College and Mira Khan from Independence Community College..  
 
GLVC SCHEDULE AHEAD:
After the Miners play the Lions, S&T will begin a four-game road stretch against Great Lakes Valley Conference opponents starting with a visit to Bolivar, Mo. to face Southwest Baptist at 1 p.m. Saturday afternoon.  On Monday, Nov. 28, S&T will travel down Interstate 44 to Springfield, Mo. to play the seventh-ranked Lady Panthers of Drury at 5:30 p.m. in the O'Reilly Family Events Center.  
 
ABOUT SBU:
The Bearcats (3-2) was picked 10^th in the pre-season GLVC rankings coming off a 16-14 (10-10 GLVC) record a season ago. SBU enters the game coming off a split of two games in San Juan, P.R. last weekend. Emma Perry is currently leading the team averaging 12.3 points per game, shooting 42 percent from the field and 41.4 percent from 3-point range. The last time S&T defeated SBU was during the 2020-21 season. 

ABOUT DRURY:
The Lady Panthers (3-0), the six-time GLVC champions, were a prohibitive favorite to win the GLVC championship again this season and is currently ranked seventh in the WBCA rankings released on Tuesday. Drury returns 10 letter winners including three All-GLVC members in Alana Findley, Kaylee DaMitz-Holt and Terrion Moore while adding four newcomers to the team.
 
DaMitz-Holt and Moore are leading the Lady Panthers with averages of averaging 19.7 and 14.7 points per game, respectively and both have already received GLVC Player of the Week honors this season.  
 
The Lady Panthers play twice before taking on S&T, including a home matchup with third-ranked Ashland on  Wednesday night.