By: John Kean, Athletic Communications Director
ROLLA, Mo. – The top two teams in the Great Lakes Valley Conference are on the slate for Missouri S&T's women's basketball team in the upcoming week as the Miners resume their conference schedule.
The Miners, fresh off a 29-point victory over Cottey in their first game back from the holiday break, will face Lewis Wednesday night in Romeoville, Ill., before returning home for a 1 p.m. game Saturday against McKendree at Gibson Arena. Both S&T foes are undefeated in GLVC play, with Lewis at 5-0 and McKendree perfect through six contests.
S&T, 3-10 on the year, got out to a fast start Saturday as it led from start to finish in the win over Cottey, scoring the first 11 points of the game and leading by as many as 19 in the first half to pick up its second win in its last three outings.
Chorus Davis (Kansas City, MO/Lincoln College Prep) recorded the first double-double of her career in the win with career-high marks of 14 points and 12 rebounds to lead three Miners in double figures.
Norah Gum (Waterloo, IL/Waterloo) finished with 11 points for S&T and
Katelynne Roberts (Edwardsville, IL/Edwardsville), the Miners' leading scorer and rebounder on the season, had 10 points and eight boards in the game. Roberts comes into Wednesday's contest with averages of 17.4 points and 8.5 rebounds per game while shooting 55.7 percent from the field, all marks that ranks among the leaders in the GLVC.
She is currently third in scoring, fourth in rebounding, field goal percentage and blocked shots, as she has 16 on the year after getting four in Saturday's win.
The Miners have one additional double figure scorer in
Eryn Puett (Columbia, MO/Rock Bridge), who is averaging 10.4 points per contest and is shooting 35.4 percent from three-point range.
Addyson Kent (North Vernon, IN/Jennings County) continues leads the Miners with 26 three-pointers, 38 assists and 22 steals, the latter of which ranks ninth in the GLVC.
ABOUT LEWIS: The Flyers, despite being 5-0 in the GLVC, struggled against a challenging non-conference schedule as they will bring an overall record of 6-5 into Wednesday's game. Lewis lost its last two games before the holiday break as it fell to Eckerd and Florida Southern in Florida.
Lewis has four players averaging in double figures on the season, led by Grace Hilber with an average of 17 points per game that ranks fourth in the GLVC. Kathryn Schmidt is averaging 13.3 points per contest and leads the Flyers on the boards with seven per game, while Taylor Gugliuzza is pulling down 6.8 rebounds per game to go along with her 11.4 points per game. The fourth double figure scorer, Jenna Badali, is scoring 11 points a game and has a team-leading 47 assists.
ABOUT McKENDREE: The Bearcats, who were picked to finish sixth in the GLVC's pre-season rankings, are off to a 10-2 start on the season and are 6-0 in the GLVC heading into a home game Wednesday against Upper Iowa. McKendree ranks in the middle of the pack in the conference rankings in scoring on both the offensive and defensive ends of the floor, but is second in the conference in field goal percentage at 45.2 percent and are holding its opponents to a 23.7 percent mark from three-point range, also the second-best mark in the GLVC.
Clare Breden leads the Bearcats with an average of 17.1 points per game and has added 36 assists and 18 steals, while Naomi McDaniel has averaged 14.9 points and a team-leading 7.8 rebounds per contest. McDaniel is also shooting 55.5 percent from the field and Christy Fortune has made 41.2 percent of her three-point attempts with a team-leading 28 treys.