MACOMB, Ill. - Western Illinois women's basketball plays the seventh game of its 10-game Division I nonconference stretch on Saturday (Dec. 7), welcoming Southeast Missouri State to Macomb at 4:30 p.m.
The Leathernecks (4-5) trail the Redhawks (3-6) in the all-time series, 4-2, but Western Illinois has claimed victories in both of the games that have been played in Macomb.
Following the women's game, the Leatherneck men play host to Grace Bible College at 7 p.m.
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LAST TIME OUT: Western Illinois fell 97-80 at No. 15-ranked Oklahoma on Wednesday (Dec. 4)... Ashley Luke led the Leathernecks with 27 points, six rebounds, four assists and a career-high six steals... By shooting 11-of-15 from the field and 5-of-5 from the charity stripe, Luke scored 23+ points for the third consecutive game... Rebecca Henricson matched career highs of 18 points and four 3-pointers, shooting 6-of-9 overall and adding four assists and two steals... From the field, Tori Niemann went 4-of-6 from the field en route to 13 points... Paige Harmon sank a career-high three triples to total nine points... WIU and Oklahoma tied the second half, scoring 46 points apiece in the period... The Leathernecks took an early 6-5 lead and were tied 10-10, but a 12-0 Sooner run gave them the lead for good... Western shot 28-of-54 (51.9 percent) from the field... The 17-point difference was Western's closest margin versus a ranked team since falling 76-69 to # 18 Iowa in 2004.
SCOUTING THE REDHAWKS: Southeast Missouri State enters the game with a 3-6 record, most recently defeating Southern Illinois 72-50 after dropping five straight games... The Redhawks are led by Kara Wright, who averages 12.3 points and 2.4 assists per game... Olivia Hackmann is also averaging double-figure scoring, at 11.0 ppg... Patricia Mack leads the squad in rebounding (9.2 rpg), also scoring 8.4 ppg... Opponents are outshooting the Redhawks 42.8 percent to 36.3 percent... SEMO has a 1-4 record in road and neutral site contests... Head coach Ty Margenthaler is a Macomb native, as his father, Jack, was Western's men's hoops coach for 15 seasons... Ty was an All-State basketball player at Macomb High School.
SERIES HISTORY: The Redhawks lead the all-time series, 4-2... Southeast Missouri has won two in a row, including a 56-47 victory last season... Western's last win came in 1996... The Leathernecks are 2-0 against the Redhawks in Macomb... Last year, SEMO's Patricia Mack pulled down 16 boards in addition to six points and four assists, while Olivia Hackmann scored a game-high 15 points.
THIS DATE IN HISTORY (Dec. 7): Western Illinois is 7-9 on this date all-time, but has dropped four consecutive Dec. 7 contests... The most recent Western Illinois victory came in 2002, when WIU handed Big 12 foe Kansas its first loss of the 2002-03 season, snapping the Jayhawks' four-game winning streak... Western has also defeated Eastern Illinois, Bradley, San Diego, Marquette and SIU-Edwardsville on this date... Zane Teilane blocked eight shots, third-most in program history, in a Western Illinois loss at Missouri State in 2005.
'NECKS IN THE NATION (as of Dec. 1): Ashley Luke is tied for third in the nation with six double-doubles, trailing only Jessica Kuster of Rice and Alyssa Thomas of Maryland (seven)... Rebecca Henricson is sixth in the nation with a 4.44 assist-to-turnover ratio, trailing the national leader by 0.39... Luke is also 20th in the nation in rebounding, pulling down 11.3 boards per game... As a team, the Leathernecks rank in the top 60 in: scoring (42nd - 79.4 ppg), assists per game (19th - 18.5), assist/turnover ratio (32nd - 1.17), and fewest fouls committed per game (36th - 16.6).
PROTECTING THE ROCK: After finishing 15th in the nation with a 2.2 assist-to-turnover ratio last year, Rebecca Henricson has tallied 44 assists while committing just 11 turnovers so far in 2013-14, the best ratio in the Summit League... She has committed one turnover or less in six of the first nine games this season, committing more than two turnovers just once...As a team, Western Illinois has finished with more assists than turnovers in five of the past eight contests... The Leathernecks have the best assist-to-turnover ratio in the Summit League.
ATOP THE SUMMIT: Ashley Luke leads the conference with six double-doubles and six 10-rebound games... She also leads the league with 10.7 boards and 2.8 steals per game... Rebecca Henricson is first in assist/turnover ratio (4.0) and third in assists per game (4.9)... The Leathernecks have four of the conference's top seven in steals: Luke is first (2.8), Tori Niemann is tied for second (2.1/gm), Henricson is fourth (2.0), and Michelle Maher is seventh (1.6)... Luke, Maher and Niemann are all in the conference's top 11 in scoring; Luke is second (18.4 ppg), Niemann is eighth (13.1 ppg) and Maher is 11th (11.9 ppg)... As a team, Western Illinois leads the league in scoring, averaging 79.4 points per game... The Leathernecks also lead the league in assists per game (18.2), steals per game (9.3), offensive rebounding (14.1), and fewest fouls committed per game (16.4)
70 IS THE MAGIC NUMBER: In head coach JD Gravina's tenure, the Leathernecks are 21-6 when scoring at least 70 points, including 4-3 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... Five different Leathernecks have led the team in scoring on a given night... Individual Leathernecks have scored in double figures 32 times already this year.
WHAT DOES MAHER DO?: When Michelle Maher scores at least 13 points this season, the Leathernecks have a 4-0 record... When she puts up 12 points or less, WIU is 0-5.
MILESTONE WATCH: Ashley Luke pulled down her 300th career rebound in Western's win over Saint Louis, and she's 17 points away from 500 in her career... Rebecca Henricson is 14 assists away from becoming the seventh Leatherneck to reach 300 assists in a career, and eight steals away from being the ninth player to reach 150... Michelle Maher is one point away from scoring her 400th career point, and tallied her 100th career assist in the win over SLU... Tori Niemann also reached a century mark in that contest, scoring her 100th career point against the Billikens... Sophie Reichelt is 11 points away from 100 in her career, while Marley Hall is 14 points away from recording her 100th point as a Leatherneck.
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).
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