MACOMB, Ill. - Coming off a 98-55 win over NAIA opponent William Woods, Western Illinois women's basketball opens a stretch of 10 straight games against nonconference Division I opponents, beginning with Wisconsin-Milwaukee on Sunday (Nov. 17) at 2 p.m.

During this 10-game stretch, Western Illinois will take on three OVC teams and one program apiece from the Horizon League, Conference USA, Missouri Valley, Atlantic 10, Big 12, SEC and WAC.

LAST TIME OUT: Western Illinois cruised to a 98-55 win over William Woods, who is ranked No. 19 in NAIA Division I... Six different players scored in double figures as the Leathernecks set a new program record by hitting 16 triples in a game... Seven of the nine WIU players who saw game action connected from beyond the arc... Sophie Reichelt set career highs in points (21), rebounds (5), assists (4) and free throws (5-for-5) in just 15 minutes of action... Rebecca Henricson also broke career highs in scoring (18 points) and 3-pointers (4-for-6), also adding nine assists, four rebounds, three steals and two blocks... Tori Niemann (16 pts), Michelle Maher (13), Ashley Luke (11) and Marley Hall (10) also scored in double figures... Paige Harmon set a new career high by leading the team with eight rebounds... The Leathernecks dished out 31 assists, tied for second-most in program history and most since 1990, while committing just 11 turnovers.

SCOUTING THE PANTHERS: Wisconsin-Milwaukee is 0-1 this year after finishing 2012-13 with a 9-20 record... The Panthers return five of their top six scorers from a year ago, including Angela Rodriguez, who led the team with 13.2 points and 3.9 assists per game a year ago... Ashley Green (11.6 ppg/6.2 rpg) and Emily Decorah (11.1 ppg) also averaged in double-figure scoring... In its only game so far this season, Milwaukee fell to Big Ten foe Wisconsin, 85-60... Rodriguez was tops on the team in scoring, totaling 18 points in the loss... The Panthers play one more Summit League opponent this season: North Dakota State is the next game on the schedule, coming to the Klotsche Center on Saturday (Nov. 23) at 11 a.m.

SERIES HISTORY: Milwaukee leads the all-time series, 5-3... The Panthers have won three straight, most recently a 79-66 victory on Nov. 26, 2011... Rebecca Henricson is the last Leatherneck remaining from that 2011-12 team; she scored two points in the game... Angela Rodriguez (16 points) and Ashley Green (18 points, 7 rebounds) led the Panthers in that contest... Western's last win in the series was a 72-58 neutral site victory in 1994.

THIS DATE IN HISTORY (Nov. 17): Western Illinois picked up its first win of the 2009-10 season by beating Northern Illinois on the road, 50-48…Erica Lewis scored a game-high 17 points in just 26 minutes of action…With WIU trailing by a point with about a minute remaining, Lewis hit a layup to give the Leathernecks the lead.

PROTECTING THE ROCK: After finishing 15th in the nation with a 2.2 assist-to-turnover ratio last year, Rebecca Henricson has tallied 15 assists while committing just one turnover so far in 2013-14... Heading into the game against William Woods, Henricson had a 6-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio, and improved it by dishing out nine assists while playing turnover-free ball.

ATOP THE SUMMIT: Ashley Luke is the only player in the conference to record a double-double, and she has two this season... She also leads the league in 10-rebound games (two) and is 2.0 rebounds per game ahead of the next-closest, with 11.3 per game... Michelle Maher is tied at the top of the league in steals, averaging 3.3 per contest... Rebecca Henricson has the highest assist-to-turnover ratio at 15-to-1, also tied for the lead with her 15 total assists... Luke and Maher are both in the top 10 in the league in scoring; Maher is tied for fifth at 14.0 ppg, while Luke is tied for eighth at 13.3 ppg.

70 IS THE MAGIC NUMBER: In head coach JD Gravina's tenure, the Leathernecks are 19-3 when scoring at least 70 points, including 2-0 this season... When scoring 69-or-fewer points, Western is 9-33 over the same timespan.

STRONG RETURNERS: The Leathernecks welcome back eight returners from the 2012-13 roster... Rebecca Henricson is the lone senior and serves as the team captain, also serving as the floor general as the point guard... Ashley Luke is the reigning Summit League 'Newcomer of the Year' and was the lone All-Summit League honoree a year ago... Michelle Maher is back for her sophomore campaign after averaging in double-figure scoring her freshman season... Liz Skotowski, Paige Harmon and Sophie Reichelt all enter their sophomore seasons after shooting 38 percent or better from beyond the arc off the bench their first season... A pair of transfers will see their first action in Purple & Gold after sitting out games last season to meet transfer requirements: Marley Hall, a junior forward, and Tori Niemann, a junior guard.

FRESH FACES: In addition to the eight returners, the Leathernecks also welcome four newcomers in 2013-14... Mallory Boyle was an ESPN 3-star recruit and is expected to make an impact as a true-freshman... Michelle Farrow also enters from the high school ranks after picking up All-Area accolades during her prep career... Western also brings in two more transfers from four-year programs who will have to redshirt the upcoming season to meet transfer requirements: junior Faith Lois, a 5-11 guard who spent her first two seasons at Nevada-Reno, and Ciara Marlow, a 5-7 sophomore guard who averaged double-figure scoring in her rookie season at Division III Aurora University.

PRESEASON RECOGNITION: A trio of Leathernecks received preseason recognition... Ashley Luke was projected as 'First Team All-Summit League' through voting of conference coaches, media members, and sports information directors, as well as by College Sports Madness... Luke was the only underclassman to be named to either the First or Second Team by the conference... Additionally, Michelle Maher was tabbed as 'Second Team All-Summit League' and Mallory Boyle was projected to be 'Summit League Freshman of the Year' by College Sports Madness... The conference preseason poll projected Western Illinois to finish sixth in the Summit League in 2013-14... The Leathernecks received 146 points in the poll, just behind Denver (169) and Fort Wayne (179)... South Dakota State received the majority of the first-place votes (27 out of 30) in the poll and led the pack with 319 points.

HISTORY BEFORE THE TIP: For the first time in program history, the women's basketball team will be playing 15 home games inside Western Hall in 2013-14... Last year was the first time the team had ever played 14 contests in Macomb in one season... Of the eight nonconference games at home, five are Division I programs: Florida Atlantic (Nov. 20), Loyola-Chicago (coached by WNBA legend Sheryl Swoopes - Nov. 23), Saint Louis (Nov. 30), Southeast Missouri State (Dec. 7) and SIU-Edwardsville (Dec. 19)... Playing at home under should bode well for the Leathernecks; last year, Western finished 10-4 inside Western Hall compared to 4-12 on the road and at neutral sites.

GRAVINA SETS ANOTHER STANDARD: Head coach JD Gravina holds a 26-35 record through his first two years at the helm of Leatherneck Basketball. No other coach in the program's NCAA Division I history has won more games in their first two years of coaching than Gravina... With the last 2012-13 win over Oakland, Gravina took sole possession of first moving past Leslie Crane (25)... Gravina joins Bea Yeager (first two years team moved to Division I level) as the only coaches with at least 10 wins in each of the first two seasons, and Gravina is the only coach to win at least 12 games each season.

WESTERN SIGNS ONE FOR 2014-15: On the first day of the 2013-14 early signing period (Nov. 13), Emily Clemens signed a National Letter of Intent to join the Western Illinois women's basketball family for the 2014-15 season... Clemens, a 5-4 point guard from Muscatine H.S. (Iowa), is a two-time All-State honoree... She averaged 12.3 points, 4.7 assists, 3.3 rebounds and 2.8 steals her junior year after totaling 12.5 points, 7.0 assists, 3.7 steals and 2.9 rebounds per contest her sophomore season... She has also shot better than 41 percent from beyond the arc each of her past two seasons.

ATTENDANCE ON THE RISE: The Leathernecks' 2012-13 regular season finale against Oakland brought 1,156 fans to Western Hall - the second highest attendance in program history. The total surpassed the previous season-high of 848 against South Dakota State ('Think Pink' event)... The record is 1,384 against IUPUI in March 2004... That was the third time last year Western drew at least 800 fans for a game... The 644 average home attendance in 14 games is the largest average since the 2006-07 season (660 avg./12 games)... The 1,156 attendance for Oakland was the last 1,000+ attendance since February 27, 2006 (1,001 vs. Kansas City).

3-POINT SHOOTING RECORDS SET: For the second season in a row, Gravina's program broke the team's single-season 3-pointer record... The Leathernecks finished 2012-13 with 235 treys, breaking the record set in the previous season by 20... Saule Kontautaite broke her own season record of 67 3-pointers by sinking 68 in 2012-13... Michelle Maher connected from long distance 60 times during her freshman campaign, fourth-most all-time.

THREE STRAIGHT: Ashley Luke was named the 2012-13 Summit League 'Newcomer of the Year', marking the third straight season a Leatherneck received the honor... Saule Kontautaite was the 2011-12 recipient, while Sadie Webb earned the recognition in 2010-11... Luke earned the honor by averaging 10.6 points and 7.2 rebounds per game in her redshirt-freshman season... She was also named 'Second Team All-Summit League' and to the 'Summit League All-Newcomer Team'.

NATIONALLY SPEAKING: Western Illinois women's basketball finished the 2012-13 season ranked 15th nationally in 3-point field goals per game, connecting on an average of 7.8... Current senior Rebecca Henricson ended her junior year ranked 15th in the country in assist-to-turnover ratio, racking up 2.2 assists per turnover... With 15.4 assists per contest, the team ranked 36th nationally...The Leathernecks also finished in the top 65 in fewest fouls committed per game (51st - 14.4), assist-to-turnover ratio (53rd - 0.95), and ranked 63rd in 3-point field-goal percentage (63rd - 33.1 percent).

TALE OF TWO SEASONS: In her redshirt-freshman season, Ashley Luke got stronger as the year went on... After not scoring more than seven points in any of the first nine games, she scored in double figures in all but four of the final 21 contests... Including the first two games this season, Luke tallied four consecutive double-doubles... She posted six double-doubles in the final eight games last year, including four of the last five contests... Over those seven games, she averaged 16.0 points, 9.6 rebounds, 1.4 blocks and 1.4 steals, all better than her season averages... She also improved her shooting, hitting 80 percent of her free throws and 54 percent of field goal attempts in the last seven contests, also above her season averages.