MACOMB, Ill. - The Western Illinois Fighting Leatherneck women's basketball team hits the road against Oral Roberts Wednesday (Feb. 1) at 7 p.m. This will be the second meeting between the two Summit League programs for the 2016-17 regular season. The Leathernecks are currently fourth in The Summit League standings.

LAST TIME AGAINST THE GOLDEN EAGLES:
In an overtime thriller, JD Gravina picked up his 200th career win as the Leathernecks defeated Oral Roberts 76-72 at home on Jan. 7.

Both Emily Clemens and Taylor Higginbotham each led the way with a game-high 20 points. The duo was also one assist and one rebound, respectively, shy of being the second and third Leathernecks to record double-doubles in the contest along with Morgan Blumer, who totaled 19 points and 11 rebounds. Clemens also eclipsed the 800-point mark in her career, while Higginbotham surpassed 600 career points. With nine blocks, Olivia Braun recorded the second-most blocks in a single-game, just one shy of Zane Teilane, who had 10 twice (2003 and 2006).

Oral Roberts had four in double figures, which included Maria Martianez (double-double of 18 points and 15 rebounds) and Faith Ihim (14 points). Kaylan Mayberry and Hillary Hurst each added 13 points in the game.

AROUND THE SUMMIT LEAGUE:
The Leathernecks have two players who rank second and third, respectively, in The Summit League for points per game in Emily Clemens (18.7) and Morgan Blumer (17.1). Individually, Clemens leads The Summit League with 149 total assists this season (10th nationally) and 6.8 assists per game (12th).

For steals and steals per game, Western Illinois has four players who take up the top four spots in The Summit League. Clemens leads the league with 59 steals and 2.7 steals per game, followed by Blumer (51 steals/2.3 per game). Mallory Boyle and Taylor Higginbotham are both tied for third in the league with 42 total steals and 1.9 per contest. Olivia Braun leads the league with 2.8 blocks per game. She is also 11th nationally with 61 total blocks.

As a team, Western Illinois leads The Summit League in scoring offense (80.3), assists (18.2), steals (12.0), blocks (4.6), field goals made (630) and 3-pointers made (202) this season.

SCOUTING THE GOLDEN EAGLES:
Oral Roberts sits at 12-10 overall with a 4-5 mark in league action. They are currently fifth in The Summit League standings. They have wins over Fort Wayne (twice), Omaha and North Dakota State. Their losses are to Western Illinois, South Dakota, South Dakota State, IUPUI and Denver.

The Golden Eagles have four players who average in double figures for scoring in Faith Ihim (12.5 points per game), Lakota Beatty (12.4), Maria Martianez (11.5) and Kaylan Mayberry (11.5). Ihim also leads The Summit League with 8.2 rebounds per game.

SERIES HISTORY VS. ORAL ROBERTS:
Including the most recent meeting, Oral Roberts leads the all-time series 23-19. Both of the teams have split the last four meetings.

CLEMENS ASSIST WATCH:
After reaching 355 career assists, including a career-high 13 against South Dakota (Jan. 28), Emily Clemens now ranks sixth all-time in total career assists. The junior point guard is eight shy of surpassing Kim Hurley (1978-81) for fifth all-time in career-assists.
 

PROMOTIONAL:
Fans can hear Danny Frey call all of the women's basketball regular season games throughout the area on the Leatherneck Sports Network.
 
All Western Illinois women's basketball regular season home games are scheduled to be video streamed on Fighting Leatherneck All-Access, and select games are slated to air on
WatchESPN/ESPN3.
 
Flagship: 94.3 FM WRMS (Beardstown) Affiliates: 102.7 FM WJEQ (Macomb) | 106.7 FM WPWQ (Quincy) | 107.5 FM KWBZ (Quincy).

 

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