ROLLA, Mo. - The Missouri S&T women's basketball team will continue Great Lakes Valley Conference play as it hosts the Prairie Stars of Illinois Springfield Saturday at 1 p.m. in Gibson Arena. It will be the first home game for the Miners since Nov. 15, when S&T routed Baptist Bible 88-48 in its home opener.

The Miners (4-5, 2-1 GLVC) spent nearly the first month of the 2022-23 season on the road, including two games against nationally-ranked teams and their first three GLVC contests.   S&T began its GLVC schedule visiting Southwest Baptist on Nov. 26 and winning 76-54, then after losing to seventh-ranked Drury two days later, got back in the win column with a strong defensive effort to knock off Missouri-St. Louis 58-48 last Saturday at the Mark Twain Building in St. Louis.

Alex Kerr (St. Louis, MO/St. Joseph's Academy) and Laura Rodriguez (Gran Canaria, Spain/Baloncesto Torrelodones) share the top spot in the scoring column for the Miners with averages of 12.3 points per game on the season.  Kerr has done most of her damage inside, where she is shooting 50 percent from the field and is also S&T's top rebounder with 8.8 per game which ranks second in the GLVC.  Kerr has 15 blocked shots as well to lead the conference in that category.

Rodriguez has been the Miners' top outside threat, as she has a team-high 12 three-point baskets and also leads S&T with 12 steals.

The Miners are also getting 9.2 points per game from Kristen Keys (St. Louis, MO/Westminster Christian Academy), 7.8 per game from freshman Anna Finley (Owensville, MO/Owensville) and 7.6 points a contest from Michaela Davis (Keokuk, Iowa/Keokuk), who leads the Miners with 22 assists.

ABOUT UIS: The Prairie Stars (0-8, 0-3 GLVC) enter this GLVC matchup coming off an 86-79 defeat at the hands of Truman State last Saturday.  Ariyah Douglas led three Prairie Stars in double figures with 26 points while shooting five-of-nine from behind the arc. Brianna Zajicek contributed 23 points while Ava Bardic added 22 points as that trio combined for 71 of UIS' 79 total points. 

This season, UIS was picked to finish eighth in the GLVC Preseason Poll after a 17-11 and 11-9 GLVC record a season ago. Malea Jackson is the top returning scorer as she averaged 12.5 points and four rebounds while averaging 30.5 minutes per game a season ago. However, this season, Ariyah Douglas is currently leading UIS in scoring with an average of 20 points per game that ranks second in the GLVC.

UIS comes into this GLVC dropping its first three GLVC decisions. The Prairie Stars began its GLVC schedule hosting Lewis on Nov. 26 where the Flyers routed UIS 88-53. Four days later, Illinois-Springfield lost to Quincy 91-80 before suffering the loss to Truman to remain winless on the season.

Following Saturday's game, the Miners pause action for nine days before returning to Gibson Arena on Dec. 19 to host Missouri Baptist at 11:30 a.m. on Education Day.