MACOMB, Ill. - Western Illinois women's basketball (11-17, 7-11) will enter the Summit League Championship with a No. 7 seed and will face the No. 2 seed Oral Roberts (20-9, 14-4) on Saturday at 2:30 p.m. inside the Sioux Falls Arena. The Golden Eagles ended last season for the Leathernecks with a 108-79 victory in the first round.

ORU has taken the last seven meetings with Western including all four meetings in the conference tournament. The Golden Eagles enter the tournament on five-game winning streak.

The Leathernecks tied with Oakland for the sixth or seventh seed at 7-11 for the Summit League Tournament. The seeding was be decided based current RPI ratings, which is the fourth tie-breaking procedure. In the sites latest release Oakland edges Western in RPI 233 to 254. IUPUI is the fifth seed due to their split with Oral Roberts.

SDSU controlled the paint with a 54-12 advantage in points-in-the-paint and a 43-28 advantage in the rebounding battle while Western allowed an opponent to eclipse the century mark for the first time this season. Kelly and Webb both finished with 14 points to lead Western while Salvatori pulled down seven boards.

The Match Up
Who: #7 Western Illinois (11-18, 7-11) vs. #2 Oral Roberts (20-9, 14-4) 
When: Monday, March 3 at 2:30 p.m.
Location: Sioux Falls, S.D.
Arena: Sioux Falls Arena (6,300)
Coverage
Radio • WIUS (88.3 FM, Macomb) Flagship station
Live WIUS radio broadcast (Free)
Play-by-Play: Michael Broskowski Color Analyst: Ryne Thorson
Streaming • TheSummitLeague.org (Subscription)
TV • Midco Sports Net/Fox College Sports/wiutv3
Live Stats • TheSummitLeague.org (Free)

SCOUTING THE GOLDEN EAGLES: Head Coach Jerry Finkbeiner (Southern Nazarene, 1980) is in his 16th season (273-206) leading the Oral Roberts program. ORU enters the Summit League Championship as the No. 2 seed and will look to match last season's season-opening defeat of the Leathernecks, 108-79. The Golden Eagles enter the tournament on on a five-game winning streak including an overtime victory at IPFW. ORU was off on Monday but defeated Southern Utah, 54-47, in Cedar City, Utah on Saturday. ORU leads the all-time series 19-16 including winning the last seven.

GOLDEN EAGLES TO WATCH: Kevi Luper starts and finishes everything for ORU and enters the tournament averaging 23.9 points and 4 steals per game. The two-time Summit League Player of the Year has the career scoring mark int he conference. The dynamic guard is assisted by Jordan Pyle with 11.5 points and 6.3 rebounds per game. Georgia Jones is dishing out 4.4 assists per game to go with her 9.2 points per game.

STEP ONE: The JD Gravina era officially began with a win as Western Illinois defeated Hannibal-LaGrange 87-65 on Nov. 11. The 87 points were the most scored by a Leatherneck team since Dec. 18, 2005 (109 vs. Illinois Springfield). From the field Western shot 47 percent (31-66) for the night and was 10-16 from behind the arc (63 percent). The 10 three-pointers were the most since Dec. 12, 2009 (14 vs. UIS). Eleven Leathernecks scored on the night and Sadie Webb led the way with 19 points and nine rebounds. The Leathernecks scored 36 points off the 25 Hannibal-LaGrange turnovers including an 18-0 edge in fastbreak points.

WEBB LEADING THE WAY: No surprise that senior Sadie Webb leads the team in scoring (14.6/6th in Summit League). Six consecutive double-figure scoring performances to start the season were highlighted with a career-high 31 points against Northern Illinois. At NIU, Webb was 9-for-18 from the field including 2-for-4 from long range and 11-for-16 from the free throw line. It was the first time a Leatherneck had scored 30 or more points since Kinesha Davis against Youngstown State on Jan. 18, 1998 when she had 34 points. Against Milwaukee, Webb collected a double-double (11 points/10 rebounds) in the loss. Webb returned to form against Nebraska Omaha with a 22-point performance while also pulling down nine rebounds. In the win over Southern Utah, Webb led four Leathernecks in double-digits with 20 points and went 11-for-14 from the line. Against ORU, Webb had 18 first-half points and finished with 21. Webb led the Leathernecks to 70-59 win at Nebraska Omaha with 24 points. In the 33-point win over Oakland, Webb drilled five three-pointers and finished with 19 points. Webb is averaging 13.3 points per game during her Leatherneck career, which is fifth all-time. Webb has 424 points this season; she is just the 11th player since 1981-82 to score 400 points in a season.

SENIOR CLASS: This year's senior class made up of Sadie Webb, Valencia Kelly, Brittany Demery and Tricia Coates have combined to play 212 games (146 starts), score 1,751 points, grab 721 rebounds, dish out 268 assists. The four have also combined for 79 games scoring in double-figures, 42 games as the Leatherneck top scorer, 27 games as the top rebounder, 10 20-point games, seven 10 plus rebound performances, six career double-doubles and one 30-point game. These four student-athletes were honored during the UMKC game inside Western Hall on Feb. 18.

$AULE: The Leathernecks have received a boost from sharp shooter Saule Kontautaite all season especially against North Dakota State. The junior missed all of last season due to injury and seemed to regain some confidence during the first half on Dec 2. Kontautaite knocked down four first-half deep balls for 12 first-half points, helping Western to a 33-23 advantage. She collected a fifth and final three-pointer in the second half and finished with a career-high 17 points in the win over the Bison. Kontautaite was another key member of the comeback at IUPUI as she knocked down three key triples inside The Jungle. She set a career-high mark in scoring vs. Southern Utah with 19 points and matched her high-mark with five rebounds. At home against IUPUI, she started the comeback attempt with eight consecutive points for the Leathernecks. At Nebraska Omaha on Monday, Kontautaite drilled five triples in a game for the second time this season, which puts her in the record for the seventh most in a game. The “Lithuanian Sniper” topped that game with one of the better shooting-performances ever inside Western Hall. She hit six triples to tie her for third most ever in a game in program history and finished with a career-high 26 points. “Special K” leads the team with 61 made three-pointers, which is second all-time in the program's record book for three-pointers in a season. The record belongs to Doshia Woods with 62 in 2000-01. Her 186 attempts are fourth all-time, with that record belonging to Deirdre LaFrance with 196 in 1995-96.

LIVE & DIE: The Purple & Gold need to be able to knock down the shots from behind the arc in order to be successful as Summit League play continues. In the emotional victory at IUPUI, Western was 9-for-19 from three including a 6-for-8 performance in the second half. Michele Salvatori and Saule Kontautaite both collected three triples while Valencia Kelly, Rebecca Henricson and Sadie Webb all knocked down one apiece. Western has made 199 triples this season (most in Summit League), which is an all-time high in program history. The most in a season was 155 in 2007-08 and the previous high for attempts was 457 in 2008-09, the Leathernecks have 637 attempts this season. The best percentage was 40 percent in 1990-91; Western is shooting 31 percent from behind the arc. Western hit 15 triples against Oakland, the most ever in a game in program history and has three games of 10 or more triples.

TOURNEY HISTORY: The Leathernecks are 10-17 overall in the Mid-Con & Summit League Tournaments. While in the Mid-Con, Western went 9-13 and have gone 1-4 in The Summit League Championship. Against ORU, Western is 0-4 at the Summit League Tournament, including a 108-79 quarterfinal victory in 2011. ORU won a 75-72 overtime quarterfinal matchup over the Leathernecks in 2002, a 72-70 overtime semifinal game in 2004 and a 43-37 semifinal battle in 2005.

SIGNING CLASS: First-year Western Illinois women's basketball head coach JD Gravina and his staff announced the signing of four high school student-athletes to join the Purple & Gold in 2012. The four include two three-star recruits and three Illinois athletes. Michelle Maher (5-9, Guard) from Park Ridge, Ill. and Maine South High School is four-time letterwinner in basketball while collecting 811 career points and helped Maine South collect a third place finish at the 2011 State Tournament. Paige Harmon (6-0, Forward) from Oswego, Ill and Oswego High School is a three-star prospect by ESPN and averaged 21.2 points and 10.9 rebounds per game while scoring over 35 points on four different occasions and pulling down 20 rebounds on three occasions. Liz Skotowski (5-9, Guard) from Mt. Vernon, Iowa and Mt. Vernon High School is a four-time letterwinner and member and was state runner-up her junior year. Charnelle Reed (5-10, Guard) from Flossmoor, Ill. and Homewood-Flossmoor High School is another three-star recruit as ranked by ESPN and average 13.2 points as a junior while being named Honorable Mention IBCA All-State.

BITS & PIECES: Western Illinois collected a 20-2 advantage in second chance points against UNO on Dec. 20. That game featured 14 lead changes and six ties. It was the first time the Leathernecks dropped a game after leading at halftime and were tied with just five minutes remaining. The Mavericks used 25 bench points and 26 points in the paint to power its 40-point second half to overcome a halftime disadvantage. The Leathernecks made only four trips to the free-throw line against William Woods (Dec. 27), making half of those. At IUPUI, the Leathernecks used 12 second-half Jaguar turnovers to collect 20 points to steal the New Year's Eve victory. At IPFW, the Mastodons lead by as many as 21 and the closest the Leathernecks would get in the second half would be five at 36-31 with 16:44 left in the game. Most recently, Western could not seem to get closer than four points at Oakland. The Leathernecks cut the OU advantage to just four on four different occasions including the final, 75-71. In the home victory over SUU, Western hit 34-of-44 free throws while Valencia Kelly knocked down 12 (tied for eighth most all-time). Western is shooting 74 percent from the line, which is third all-time. The best free throw clip was 76 percent in 2007-08. The win over UMKC was ranked by Omni Rankings the best upset by a Summit League team this season and ranks seventh nationally. Western enters the tournament on a four-game losing streak, matching the longest of the season.

NEW LOOK SUMMIT LEAGUE COMING: The Summit League has experienced a makeover in recent years. Centenary moved to Division III prior to this athletic year. Southern Utah will depart for the Big Sky Conference after this season. Nebraska-Omaha will begin Summit League competition in July 2012. South Dakota joins the Summit League for official competition this season. In October, Oral Roberts announced that it would become the Southland Conference's newest member beginning in July of 2012.

UP NEXT: With a win over ORU, Western Illinois will play the winner of North Dakota State and IUPUI on Monday at 2:30 p.m.

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