Southern Indiana Screaming Eagles (17-8, 9-5 OVC) at Western Illinois Leathernecks (12-11, 6-8 OVC)
Macomb, Illinois; Thursday, 6 p.m. EST
BOTTOM LINE: Southern Indiana visits Western Illinois after Vanessa Shafford scored 24 points in Southern Indiana’s 67-56 win over the Southeast Missouri State Redhawks.
The Leathernecks have gone 7-4 at home. Western Illinois is fifth in the OVC in rebounding averaging 31.9 rebounds. Raegan McCowan paces the Leathernecks with 8.0 boards.
The Screaming Eagles are 9-5 against conference opponents. Southern Indiana is the OVC leader with 23.7 defensive rebounds per game led by Shafford averaging 5.6.
Western Illinois makes 42.8% of its shots from the field this season, which is 4.3 percentage points higher than Southern Indiana has allowed to its opponents (38.5%). Southern Indiana averages 6.2 made 3-pointers per game this season, 0.3 more makes per game than Western Illinois allows.
The matchup Thursday is the first meeting this season for the two teams in conference play.
TOP PERFORMERS: McCowan is averaging 21.4 points and eight rebounds for the Leathernecks. Mia Nicastro is averaging 14 points and 7.1 rebounds over the last 10 games.
Ali Saunders is averaging 10.6 points, 4.2 assists and 2.8 steals for the Screaming Eagles. Meredith Raley is averaging 15.1 points and 3.3 rebounds while shooting 50.9% over the last 10 games.
LAST 10 GAMES: Leathernecks: 5-5, averaging 72.9 points, 29.3 rebounds, 11.9 assists, 4.6 steals and 2.2 blocks per game while shooting 43.1% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 68.5 points per game.
Screaming Eagles: 6-4, averaging 69.8 points, 30.1 rebounds, 13.7 assists, 7.7 steals and 2.4 blocks per game while shooting 44.2% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 66.2 points.
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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.
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