MACOMB, Ill. - After a short Thanksgiving break, Western Illinois women's basketball returns to Macomb to play host to Saint Louis on Saturday (Nov. 30) at 4:30 p.m. inside Western Hall.
The Fighting Leathernecks (3-4) and their Atlantic 10 opponent Billikens (2-4) are both looking to snap three-game losing streaks.
The game is part of the first basketball doubleheader of the season, with Leatherneck men's hoops taking on Greenville at 7 p.m.
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LAST TIME OUT: Ashley Luke had a career day, totaling 29 points and 14 rebounds, but Western Illinois fell short in a 68-64 loss at Eastern Illinois... The Leathernecks went just 3-of-27 (11.1 percent) from beyond the arc, compared to 9-of-18 (50 percent) for the Panthers... Tori Niemann also scored in double figures for Western, finishing with 12 points, seven boards and a pair of steals... Rebecca Henricson added six points, six rebounds, three steals and two assists... Luke set career highs in points (29) and steals (5), tying career highs in rebounds (14) and free throws made (9), also matching her season high of two blocks... Sophie Reichelt added eight points on 4-of-7 shooting off the bench... The game featured 11 lead changes and nine ties... Western dominated down low, winning the points in the paint battle 42-22, also leading 17-5 in second chance points... The Leathernecks shot 22-of-41 (53.7 percent) from inside the 3-point line.
SCOUTING THE BILLIKENS: Saint Louis enters the contest with a 2-4 overall record, currently on a three-game losing streak... The Billikens defeated Eastern Illinois, WIU's most recent opponent, 71-52, earlier in the year... Lisa Stone is in her second year at the helm of Saint Louis; she has amassed more than 500 wins as a collegiate head coach, and spent eight seasons as the head coach at Wisconsin, being named the Big Ten 'Coach of the Year' in 2009-10... Erin Nelson is the Billikens' leading scorer, averaging 17.0 points per game, also pulling down 4.3 boards per game... Desirae Ball (10.7 ppg) is also averaging double-figure scoring... Sadie Stipanovich is SLU's leading rebounder at 7.2 rpg, also recording 8.5 ppg.
SERIES HISTORY: The Leathernecks lead the all-time series over the Billikens, 11-3... Western Illinois won the first nine contests and 11 of the first 12, with Saint Louis claiming the last two games... SLU minimized the Leatherneck offense last year en route to a 55-44 Billiken victory... Before that contest, the team's hadn't competed since the 2006 season.
THIS DATE IN HISTORY (Nov. 30): Western Illinois is 4-7 on this date all-time, winning two of the past three... Amanda Walker sank six 3-pointers in a 64-55 win over Holy Cross in 2008... Western Illinois also edged Bradley, 57-54, in 2005... The program surpassed the century mark in 1990, topping Chicago State 103-69... Western Illinois has dropped games to major programs like Wake Forest (70-62 in 1991) and Illinois (88-67 in 1983).
LEATHERNECKS IN NATIONAL RANKINGS: Ashley Luke is tied for second in the nation with five double-doubles, trailing only Jessica Kuster of Rice (six)... Rebecca Henricson is sixth in the nation with a 4.86 assist-to-turnover ratio... Luke is also 32nd in the nation in rebounding, pulling down 10.9 boards per game... As a team, the Leathernecks rank in the top 60 in: scoring (52nd - 78.3 ppg), assists per game (28th - 18.0), assist/turnover ratio (41st - 1.16), turnover margin (57th - +4.43) and fewest fouls committed per game (32nd - 16.9).
PROTECTING THE ROCK: After finishing 15th in the nation with a 2.2 assist-to-turnover ratio last year, Rebecca Henricson has tallied 34 assists while committing just seven turnovers so far in 2013-14, the second-best ratio in the Summit League... She has committed one turnover or less in six of the first seven games this season...As a team, Western Illinois has finished with more assists than turnovers in four of the last six contests... The Leathernecks have the best assist-to-turnover ratio in the Summit League
ATOP THE SUMMIT: Ashley Luke leads the conference with five double-doubles and five 10-rebound games... She also leads the league with 10.9 boards per game... Rebecca Henricson is second in assist/turnover ratio (4.9) and assists per game (4.9)... The Leathernecks have four of the conference's top seven in steals: Tori Niemann is first (2.4/gm), Luke is fourth (2.1), Henricson is fifth (2.0) and Michelle Maher is seventh (1.7)... Luke, Maher and Niemann are all in the conference's top 11 in scoring; Luke is third (16.6 ppg), Niemann is eighth (13.0 ppg) and Maher is 11th (12.0 ppg)... As a team, Western Illinois leads the league in scoring, averaging 78.3 points per game... The Leathernecks also lead the league in assists per game (18.0), steals per game (9.4), offensive rebounding (13.3), and fewest fouls committed per game (16.9)
70 IS THE MAGIC NUMBER: In head coach JD Gravina's tenure, the Leathernecks are 20-5 when scoring at least 70 points, including 3-2 this season... When scoring 69-or-fewer points, Western is 9-34 over the same timespan.
SPREAD THE WEALTH: Eight of the nine Leathernecks who have seen game action have had a game scoring at least nine points, while seven have had at least one game scoring 17 points or more... Through seven games, five different Leathernecks have led the team in scoring on a given night... Individual Leathernecks have scored in double figures 25 times already this year.
WHAT DOES MAHER DO?: When Michelle Maher scores at least 13 points this season, the Leathernecks have a 3-0 record... When she puts up 12 points or less, WIU is 0-4.
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.
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.
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.
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: In the team's 98-55 win over William Woods, Western Illinois broke the program record for 3-pointers in a game, connecting on 16 of them... Against Florida Atlantic (Nov. 20), Liz Skotowski hit six 3-pointers, falling one short of the program record, but marking just the 10th time a Leatherneck has accomplished the feat... Seven different Leathernecks sank a triple en route to the record of 16... For the second season in a row last year, 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 22 of the last 26 games, including all five in 2013-14... Including the first two games this season, Luke tallied four consecutive double-doubles... She has posted nine double-doubles in the past 12 games, including five double-doubles in seven games this year. 
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