MACOMB, Ill. - Western Illinois women's basketball closes out its regular season on the road at IUPUI on Saturday (March 1), taking on the second-place Jaguars at 3 p.m. ET/2 p.m. CT.

The Leathernecks (14-14, 6-7 Summit) currently sit in fifth place place in the conference, but could finish anywhere between third and fifth seed for next weekend's Summit League Tournament (see game notes section for scenarios). IUPUI (20-8, 10-3 Summit) has locked up the No. 2 seed.

LAST TIME OUT: In a game in which both teams shot above 50 percent, Western Illinois women's basketball fell to Fort Wayne in a shootout by a 99-92 margin inside the Gates Sports Center on Thursday night (Feb. 27)... Ashley Luke scored a career-high 33 points, tied for seventh-most in program history, but the Leathernecks dropped to 14-14 overall and 6-7 in Summit League play... Luke also added 13 rebounds to record her 18th double-double of the season, shooting 11-of-13 from the floor and from the line... Western shot 51.7 percent (31-of-60) from the field and 42.3 percent (11-of-26) from beyond the arc, but it wasn't enough as IPFW finished 58.9 percent (33-of-56) from the field, 57.1 percent (12-of-21) from long distance and 95.5 percent (21-of-22) from the charity stripe... Michelle Maher sank five 3-pointers as she totaled 22 points, while Tori Niemann added 16 points, five rebounds and three assists... Rebecca Henricson was an assist away from recording her first career double-double, finishing with 12 points and nine assists... A Niemann jumper with 3:44 remaining cut IPFW's lead to 83-81, but the Mastodons utilized a triple and old-fashioned 3-point play to push the game out of reach... After WIU jumped out to a 24-11 lead, Fort Wayne sank seven triples, shooting 16-of-22 to close the first half on a 45-20 run.

SCOUTING THE JAGUARS: IUPUI enters the contest with a 20-8 overall record, 10-3 in Summit League play... The Jaguars have already locked up second place in the conference and the No. 2 seed in next weekend's Summit League Tournament... DeAirra Goss is a Summit League 'Player of the Year' candidate, averaging 17.6 points per game in conference action... Nevena Markovic also averages double-figure scoring at 10.7 ppg and is the team's leading rebounder at 5.9 rpg... The reigning Summit League 'Defensive Player of the Year' Dee-Dee Bellamy leads the team in steals (43) and is third in blocks (10)... IUPUI has the league's top defense, allowing just 60.4 points per contest... The Jaguars are 11-2 at home this season, 6-0 in conference play.

PLAYING THINGS OUT: If Western Illinois loses to IUPUI, the Leathernecks will lock up the fifth seed in the Summit League Tournament... If WIU wins, IPFW defeats Omaha and South Dakota defeats South Dakota State, Western will still be the fifth seed... If Western wins and both South Dakota and Fort Wayne both lose, Western will earn the third seed via tiebreaker (WIU swept Omaha, IPFW and USD both split with Omaha)... If either South Dakota OR Fort Wayne lose, WIU will be the fourth seed.

SERIES HISTORY: Western Illinois leads the all-time series, 24-11... WIU's 24 wins against IUPUI is tied for the most the Leathernecks have against any program (tied with UMKC)... The Jaguars have won four straight in the series, including two consecutive in Indianapolis... Western took six straight games from 2009-11... In the first game this season, IUPUI defeated WIU 77-60 in Macomb... Liz Skotowski scored a game-high 14 points, hitting four 3-pointers to lead WIU... Five Jaguars scored in double figures in IUPUI's win.

THIS DATE IN HISTORY (March 1): Western Illinois is 2-5 on this date all-time... WIU's last victory was a 30-point win over IUPUI in 2004, 79-49... Since then, the Leathernecks have fallen to IUPUI (2008) and South Dakota State (2010).

ACADEMIC ALL-AMERICA: Sophomore Ashley Luke was named to the Capital One Third Team Academic All-America Team (Feb. 22) by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) for her academic and athletic accomplishments this year... She became the program's first-ever Academic All-America selection... Out of the 15 honorees, she was the only sophomore and one of just two non-seniors; additionally, Luke was one of just two student-athletes recognized to maintain a perfect 4.0 GPA.

LUKE-ING GOOD: After a freshman campaign in which she was named the Summit League 'Newcomer of the Year' and 'Second Team All-Summit League,' Ashley Luke has taken her game to the next level her sophomore year... She is one of just two NCAA Division I women's hoops student-athletes to average 20 points, 10.5 rebounds and two steals per game... She became the first Leatherneck to earn conference 'Player of the Week' honors four times in a season since Zane Teilane did so four times in 2005-06... This year, Luke has broken Western Illinois season records for points (currently 575 - prev. record was 504) and free throws made (currently 169 - prev. record was 127).

PROTECTING THE ROCK: After finishing 15th in the nation with a 2.2 assist-to-turnover ratio last year, Rebecca Henricson has tallied 151 assists while committing just 49 turnovers so far in 2013-14, the eighth-best ratio in the nation... She has committed one turnover or less in 12 games this season, committing more than three turnovers just once... She has finished with more turnovers than assists only three times... As a team, Western Illinois has finished with more assists than turnovers in 15 games this season... The Leathernecks have the best assist-to-turnover ratio and turnover margin in the Summit League.

70 IS THE MAGIC NUMBER: In head coach JD Gravina's tenure, the Leathernecks are 30-12 when scoring at least 70 points, including 13-9 this season... When scoring 69-or-fewer points, Western is 10-37 over the same timespan, 1-5 this season.

SPREAD THE WEALTH: All nine Leathernecks who have seen game action have had a game scoring at least seven points, while eight have had at least one game scoring 16 points or more... Six different Leathernecks have led the team in scoring on a given night... Individual Leathernecks have scored in double figures 98 times this year.

WHAT DOES MAHER DO?: When Michelle Maher scores at least 13 points this season, the Leathernecks have an 11-5 record... When she puts up 12 points or less, WIU is 3-9... Compared to last year, she has improved her averages in assists (2.4 to 4.1), steals (1.0 to 1.8) and rebounding (3.4 to 3.9).

MILESTONE WATCH: Michelle Maher scored her 600th career point in the win over Omaha (Feb. 6), and she's currently two rebounds from 200... Ashley Luke notched her 800th point and 100th assist in the loss at South Dakota State, and grabbed rebound number 500 at Fort Wayne; she's also nine steals away from 100... Rebecca Henricson is seven assists away from becoming the second Leatherneck to reach 400, and is 13 steals from becoming the sixth Leatherneck to reach the 200 plateau... She is six points away from 500 in her career, and pulled down her 300th rebound against Fort Wayne... Tori Niemann surpassed the 300-point mark by scoring 14 against Omaha... Paige Harmon scored her 200th point against South Dakota and Liz Skotowski hit a triple at IPFW for her 200th. Marley Hall (197) is  both nearing the 200-point plateau, and Sophie Reichelt (89) is closing in on 100 rebounds.

SUMMIT'S ACTIVE CAREER LEADERS: Rebecca Henricson is the Summit League's active career leader in assists with 393, 102 ahead of the next-closest (IPFW's Amanda Hyde - 291)... As just a sophomore, Ashley Luke already ranks first in rebounding (512, 15 ahead of Amanda Hyde - 497) and third in scoring (892) in her career.

HIGH ATTENDANCES: For the game against South Dakota State (Jan. 16), 1,085 fans packed Western hall, sixth-most in program history and the second-highest attendance of the past nine years... Two of the top six attendances in program history have occurred under coach JD Gravina in the last two years: Jan. 16 versus SDSU and March 2, 2013 versus Oakland (1,156 fans, second-most all-time)... Against Fort Wayne, 959 fans attended Western's Think Pink night, the 10th-largest crowd in program history... Western Illinois ranks third in the conference for home attendance at conference games, averaging 880 fans inside Western Hall.

IN THE RPI: Western Illinois' official weekly NCAA RPI ratings are below (347 NCAA Division I programs):
    • Preseason: 248
    • Week 1 (Jan. 6): 229
    • Week 2 (Jan. 13): 213
    • Week 3 (Jan. 20): 269
    • Week 4 (Jan. 27): 270
    • Week 5 (Feb. 3): 261
    • Week 6 (Feb. 10): 262
    • Week 7 (Feb. 17): 245
    • Week 8 (Feb. 24): 250

NANCY LIEBERMAN AWARD WATCH LIST: Senior Rebecca Henricson was one of 29 student-athletes in NCAA Division I to be named to the Nancy Lieberman Award watch list... The award recognizes the top point guard in the nation... Henricson was one of just nine mid-major players on the watch list.

RECORDS ARE FALLING: Against Culver-Stockton (Jan. 2), Western Illinois shattered a 35-year-old program record for assists (34), dishing out 39... That total also broke the Summit League record of 37 set by Youngstown State in 1998... The mark of 39 assists ranks tied for sixth in NCAA Division I history, and is the most in more than a decade, bettering UNC's previous 2013-14 season high of 34... After recording 37 assists against St. Francis, Western Illinois holds the two highest single-game assist totals in NCAA Division I in the past 10 years... The total of 37 is tied for 12th-most in NCAA history... By tallying 76 assists over two games, Western Illinois set an unofficial NCAA record for assists in back-to-back games...The Leathernecks have also broken the program single game 3-pointer record twice this season, sinking 16 against William Woods, before bettering that mark again with 17 against St. Francis... Ashley Luke broke the program record for free throws in a season by surpassing Becky Tyo's record of 127 at Denver and also broke the 16-year-old season points record versus Denver at home... Michelle Maher became the first Leatherneck to hit seven or more 3-pointers in two consecutive games, doing so at South Dakota and at Denver.

BEATING OTHER MID-MAJORS: In the nonconference portion of its schedule, Western Illinois defeated opponents from several different conferences, including the Atlantic-10, Conference USA, Horizon, Ohio Valley and the WAC... The Leathernecks' win over Saint Louis was the conference's only victory against an A-10 opponent... By defeating UAB, WIU also picked up the league's only win versus a C-USA team; the remainder of the league went 0-4.

NONCONFERENCE SUCCESS: Western Illinois women's basketball posted eight nonconference wins for just the fourth time in program history... The achievement is also the first time Western has reached that mark since the 2005-06 season... That year, WIU went 23-7 and finished 13-3 in conference action.

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 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.

WHAT IS A LEATHERNECK?: Western Illinois holds the distinction of being the only non-military institution to officially have its nickname derived from a branch of the military service. The school began use of the Marine Corps' official nickname, “The Fighting Leathernecks”, in 1927 when then-athletic director and head baseball, basketball and football coach Ray “Rock” Hanson was granted permission by the U.S. Navy, based on his status as a Marine hero, to use the Marine's official seal, bulldog mascot and nickname.