ROLLA, Mo.  –  Returning to Rolla after a pair of wins on the road, the Miners will face the Drury Panthers and the SBU Bearcats this week. Big performances by Eryn Puett (Columbia, MO/Rock Bridge) and Franchesca Metz (Downers Grove, IL/Nazareth Academy) helped the Miners beat Upper Iowa and Truman State last week.

In the game against Upper Iowa, Puett scored 21 points and grabbed 8 rebounds. Of those 21 points, 15 came in the second half as Puett went off in the third and fourth, as she went 6-8 from the field. Saturday's game against Truman State was Metz's time to shine. Against the Bulldogs, she recorded her first double-double as a Miner with 20 points and 10 rebounds.

This Thursday's game is the Play4Kay game (more information on Play4Kay in the links above) and Faculty/Staff Appreciation Night. Saturday's game will be Military Appreciation and Senior Day.

About the Opponents:
S&T's first opponent of the week is Drury. The Drury Panthers are currently ranked 18th in the WBCA poll and 24th in the D2SIDA poll with a 20-4 overall record, 15-3 in conference. They have three of the top fifteen scorers in the GLVC this season, with Reese Schaaf averaging 16.9 PPG (ranked 5th), Beth Martin Matas averaging 16.1 PPG (ranked 11th), and Caitlynn Daniels averaging 14.1 PPG (ranked 13th). They lead the conference in most categories (1st in scoring, 1st in FG%, 1st in 3FG%, 1st in FT%, 1st in Assists). Their greatest weakness is in the turnover battle though, as the Panthers have the lowest average of steals per game with 5.71 and the second worst turnover margin in the conference with -2.46. Drury's last loss came on January 3rd at Illinois Springfield. In that game, the Panthers had 15 turnovers that the Prairie Stars converted for 20 points off turnovers.

The second opponent for the Miners this week is Southwest Baptist University. SBU is 9-15 and 5-13 in the GLVC. The SBU Bearcats are averaging 72.4 points per game right now, which is sixth in the GLVC. SBU is third in rebounds and first in offensive rebounds this season, averaging 39.6 and 15.8 respectively. The Bearcats do have a few weaknesses that the Miners may have a chance to exploit on Saturday, as they are last in the conference for 3PT defense, allowing opponents to shoot at 36.8%, and last in the conference for free throw percentage at 66.3%. Even though they are sixth overall in scoring, the Bearcats do not have a single player in the top 25 for scoring in the conference. SBU's leading scorer this season it 6-6 Center Tori Hamilton, who is averaging 9.0 points and 1.2 blocks per game this season, the latter ranking her fifth in the GLVC for blocks. Southwest Baptist has lost nine of their ten games, including a 70-77 loss to UMSL last week.