ROLLA, Mo. – A February home schedule that includes seven home dates gets underway for Missouri S&T's women's basketball team Thursday night, as the Miners open a three-game homestand against Upper Iowa.  Tip-off for Thursday's contest will be at 5:30 p.m. on Whiteout Night at Gibson Arena.

The Miners will host Quincy on Saturday at 1 p.m. on S&T Faculty & Staff Day, then wrap up the homestand on Tuesday, Feb. 10 with a visit from Illinois Springfield in a rescheduled game that came as the result of a weather postponement in late January.

S&T split two games on its weekend road trip, knocking off Indianapolis before losing to Lewis to move to 8-9 on the season and 4-7 in the Great Lakes Valley Conference.   The Miners' next three games will be against teams they are in immediate competition with for a spot in the GLVC Tournament, as they currently just outside the top eight in the conference standings entering play on Thursday.

Norah Gum (Waterloo, IL/Waterloo), who led the Miners in scoring in both contests last week that included a career-high matching 19 points in the win at UIndy, continues to lead S&T in scoring with an average of 13.2 points per game.  Gum comes into the week ranked 14^th in the conference in scoring and is also seventh in field goal percentage at 43.6 percent and ninth at the free throw line, where she has made 79.7 percent of her attempts.

Anna Finley (Owensville, MO/Owensville) is ranked immediately behind Gum at the free throw line at 79.6 percent and is S&T's only other double figure scorer on the season with her average of 10 points per game.

As a team, the Miners are second in the GLVC in defensive field goal percentage as they have held teams to a 36.2 percent mark from the floor.

ABOUT UPPER IOWA: The Peacocks will bring records of 11-10 overall and 7-6 in the GLVC into Thursday's contest and were on the cusp of a fourth straight win Saturday, but Drury got a three-pointer at the buzzer from Josie Storey to pull out a 77-75 win in Fayette.

Ava Privet led four Upper Iowa players in double figures on Saturday and is among three double figure scorers for the Peacocks with her average of 12.2 points per game.  Ellie Foster leads the way with a mark of 13.6 per contest that is 12^th in the GLVC, while Kendyl Lodermeier is at 10.8 per contest.  The Peacocks are one of the top three-point shooting teams in the conference at 34.5 percent, as Foster has connected a league-high 56 times from beyond the arc and Privet is second with 50 as the team is tied for the GLVC lead with 174 treys this season.

Upper Iowa defeated the Miners 61-56 in Fayette on Dec. 6, as it jumped out to a 21-9 lead after one quarter and held off S&T in the second half.  Lodermeier had 18 points to lead the Peacocks, while Gum had 14 to pace the Miners.

ABOUT QUINCY: The Hawks, who will play at Drury on Thursday, held off Southwest Baptist 68-65 on Saturday to improve to 11-8 overall and 8-4 in the GLVC.  Katey Flynn led the Hawks with 16 points in the victory, while Blair Eftink connected five times from three-point range to add 15 points.

Flynn enters the week ranked ninth in the GLVC in scoring with an average of 13.8 points pe game and is also along the league leaders in assists with 61 and free throw percentage at 81 percent.  Quincy comes into play Thursday as the top field goal shooting team in the GLVC at 45.3 percent and also has the top individual in Hayven Harden, as she has made 69.1 percent of her shots from the field and is the Hawks' only other double figure scorer at 10.9 points per game.

Quincy handed the Miners a 74-67 loss on Dec. 4 in Quincy behind 27 points from Flynn and 18 from Karly Peters, while Gum led S&T with 18 in the loss.