MACOMB, Ill.- The Western Illinois women's basketball team will square off with preseason favorite and regular season champion Oral Roberts in the quarterfinal round of The Summit League Tournament at noon on Saturday, March 5.

The Fighting Leathernecks fell to the Golden Eagles on Feb. 26 by a score of 101-75 before picking up a 68-58 win over Centenary in the regular-season finale on Feb. 28.

Western Illinois will look to pull off a first-round upset for the second consecutive year after downing No. 2 Oakland in the first round of last year's tournament.

Fans can follow all of The Summit League Tournament action (men's and women's) by visiting the official tournament home page HERE.

The Matchups
Who: No. 8 Western Illinois (8-20, 6-12) vs. No. 1 Oral Roberts (20-9, 16-2)
When: Saturday, March 5 at 12 p.m.
Location: Sioux Falls, S.D.
Arena: Sioux Falls Arena

Coverage
Radio • WIUS (88.3 FM, Macomb) Flagship station
Live WIUS radio broadcast (Free)
Play-by-Play: Michael Broskowski
Color Analyst: Ryan Bower

Television • Midco Sports Net via wiutv3 (Channel 3, Macomb)
Play-by-Play: Jay Elsen
Color Analyst: Megan Vogel

Streaming Video • Summit TV (subscription)

Live Stats • TheSummitLeague.org (free)
 

PREVIOUSLY AT CENTENARY: Western Illinois snapped a season-high seven game losing streak with a 68-58 win over Centenary on Feb. 28... the Fighting Leathernecks were the last team that the Ladies faced as a Division I program as they will drop to Division III next season... Valencia Kelly led the way with 19 points in the contest, 12 of which came on the first half... Jackie Barton scored a career-high 17 points and grabbed seven rebounds... Anne Borgertpoepping scored 12 and ripped down eight boards... the Leathernecks led by just four points (28-24) at the break but were able to build a lead of as many as 13 points in the second half... Anne Farrell paced Centenary with 18 points and 11 boards... she scored her 1,000th career-point in the contest... Ne-Ne Cook had 13 points while Ashley Jackson scored 11... Western Illinois scored 21 points off 22 Centenary turnovers.

PREVIOUSLY AT ORAL ROBERTS: The Leathernecks trailed by just four points (22-18) midway through the first half before the Oral Roberts' offense exploded in a 101-75 win over Western Illinois... three players recorded double-digits for the Golden Eagles and six players had 10 or more points... Kevi Luper led all scorers with 22 points while Jordan Pyle scored 13 and pulled down a game-high 12 rebounds... Michele Salvatori scored a career-high 16 points in leading the Leathernecks... Kelly scored 12, all in the first half while Barton (10) and Brittany Demery (12) also reached double-figures... ORU outscored Western 42-26 in the paint and 43-28 from the bench... the Golden Eagles shot 49.3 percent in the contest and connected on 10-of-22 three-pointers.

SCOUTING THE GOLDEN EAGLES: Oral Roberts enters The Summit League Tournament on a three-game winning streak... the Golden Eagles have won 15 of their past 17 contests... ORU is averaging 90.2 points per game during that stretch and have scored under 80 points just three times... Luper leads the Golden Eagles with 24.0 ppg... she also leads The Summit League and the nation in scoring and steals per game (3.7)... Jordan Pyle ranks second on the team with 15.8 ppg and averages a team-best 8.8 rebounds per game.

SERIES TURNING POINT?: The victory by Oral Roberts in the last meeting between the two teams marked a turning point in the series... the win brought the Golden Eagles into a tie (16-16) against the Leathernecks all-time... it also marked the fourth-straight win for ORU in the series after dropping four in a row from 2008-09... the Golden Eagles won the first five games of the series but had not won more than two in a row since that time before sweeping the series this year.

UPSET MINDED: Western Illinois will look to pull of a big upset in the league tournament for the second year in a row... last season, the Leathernecks defeated No. 2 Oakland to advance to the semifinals before falling to eventual champ South Dakota State... the victory marked Western's first tournament win since the 2005-06 season when it advanced all the way to the league championship before falling to Oakland.

BARTON SAVES BEST FOR LAST: Senior Jackie Barton has saved some of her best basketball for the end of the season... she scored a career-high 17 points against Centenary and had 10 points against Oral Roberts... Barton has now scored in double-figures six times this season and all of those have come in back-to-back games... four of those games have come in league play... she was 7-for-12 against Centenary and made three shots from beyond the arc at Oral Roberts... Barton has recorded nine games with 10 or more points during her two seasons in the Purple and Gold.

LEATHERNECKS PICKED SEVENTH IN SUMMIT LEAGUE: Western Illinois was picked seventh in the 2010-11 Summit League preseason poll... the Leathernecks return six players from last year's squad... Western tied Southern Utah for seventh place with 162 points in the poll... Oral Roberts was picked first with 438 points and 26 first place votes... South Dakota State was selected second with 393 points and four first place votes... Oakland (336 points), IPFW (285) and North Dakota State (274) rounded out the top five... UMKC was picked sixth with 253 votes... IUPUI and Centenary were selected ninth and tenth, respectively.

CRANE NEARS MILESTONE: Western Illinois head coach Leslie Crane recorded her 192nd victory as Leatherneck head coach with the Feb. 28 victory at Centenary... she has now won 308 games during her coaching career... Crane needs just 8 more wins to hit the 200-win mark at Western Illinois... she entered the season as the winningest coach in program history.

KELLY'S FAST START: Valencia Kelly has gotten off to a very fast start in her past two contests... she scored 12 points in the first half of both games last weekend and finished with a game-high 19 against Centenary... Kelly has now notched double-digit point totals 14 times in her first season at Western Illinois.

A BIG WIN: Western's win over Centenary in the season finale snapped a seven-game losing streak and gave the Leathernecks momentum heading into the postseason... it was also the first win for the Leathernecks in a season finale since a 79-49 win over IUPUI on March 1, 2004.

TOURNAMENT RIVALS: Western Illinois has faced Oral Roberts in the conference tournament three other times... the Leathernecks are 0-3 all-time against the Golden Eagles in the postseason... the teams met in the first round during the 2002, 2004 and 2005 league tournaments... two of the games (2002 and 2004) went to overtime while the most recent meeting in 2005 was a 43-37 win for Oral Roberts.

NEW LOOK SUMMIT LEAGUE COMING: The 2010-11 look of the Summit League basketball standings will soon be changing... This season marks the finale for Centenary in the league... Southern Utah announced it is leaving for the Big Sky Conference in July 2012... In return, the University of South Dakota will officially join the Summit League next academic year in all sports.

UP NEXT: The winner of Saturday's game will take on the winner of the Oakland/Southern Utah matchup at noon on Monday, March 7 in the semifinals... the championship game is scheduled for a 3 p.m. tip on Tuesday, March 8.