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MACOMB, Ill. - The 2016-17 Summit League Regular Season Champion and No. 1 seeded Western Illinois women's basketball team travels to Sioux Falls, S.D. for the opening of The Summit League Championship. The Leathernecks begin their pursuit of the conference tournament title with a quarterfinal battle against No. 8 Denver on Saturday (March 4) at noon.
PREVIOUS MEETINGS:
(Jan. 5) A career-high 28-point performance by sophomore Taylor Higginbotham propelled the Fighting Leatherneck women's basketball team to an 87-62 win over Denver. Morgan Blumer's 25 points came off only three missed shots the entire night (8-of-11, 4-for-6 from three), and she also recorded eight rebounds. Emily Clemens was the third and final Leatherneck who scored in double figures with 11 points, six rebounds and five assists. The Pioneers' leading scorer was Lauren Loven, who had a team-high 18 points, followed by Jacqlyn Poss' 15.
(Feb. 11) The Western Illinois women's basketball team earned its 20th regular season victory with an 80-68 win on the road at Denver. The victory marks the fourth 20-win season for the Leathernecks, and the program's first since the 2005-06 season. During the game, Blumer set a new program record for the most 3-pointers in a single season with 69. She went 4-for-8 from behind the arc and scored a game-high 22 points and seven rebounds. Clemens was second on the team in scoring with 16 points, while also contributing eight assists and five rebounds. Higginbotham was the final Leatherneck in double-digit scoring with 14 points, while Mallory Boyle had nine points and a game-high eight rebounds. Jacqlyn Poss led the Pioneers with a 19-point effort, followed by Briana Johnson with 14 points, and Haley Simental with 13.
FULL RECAPS:
FIRST MEETING SECOND MEETING
A LOOK AT THE LEATHERNECKS:
Western Illinois' high-powered offensive attack results in a Summit League-best 80.4 points, 18.1 assists and 13.0 offensive rebounds per game (Western also leads with 38.3 total rebounds per game). The Leathernecks also top the league offensively in field goals made (817) and 3-pointers made (263).
Defensively, Western Illinois ranks tied for 13th nationally while leading The Summit League with 330 total steals this season. The Purple and Gold also rank 16th nationally in steals per game with 11.4 (also first in the league). For steals per game individually, Western Illinois holds up the top-four spots in The Summit League in Emily Clemens (2.5), Mallory Boyle (2.2), Taylor Higginbotham (2.0) and Morgan Blumer (1.8). Olivia Braun leads The Summit League with 2.9 blocks per game and ranks ninth nationally with 85 total blocks this season. As a team, Western averages 4.7 blocks per game, a Summit League best.
Emily Clemens is third nationally in free throws made (182-for-207) and 16th nationally with an 87.9 free throw percentage. She is also eighth nationally with 205 assists this season, which currently ties a program record. One more assist will give her sole possession of the single-season record. With 7.1 assists per game, she ranks 10th in the nation. In The Summit League, Clemens ranks first in points per game (19.2), assists per game (7.1), minutes per game (38.6), free throws, assists, steals (73) and assist-to-turnover ratio (2.6).
SERIES HISTORY VS. DENVER:
Denver sits at 6-23 overall with a 3-13 mark in Summit League action. The Pioneers most recently fell to Omaha 100-78. Denver has three players who average double-digits in scoring with Jacqlyn Poss (13.8 points per game), Lauren Loven (11.0) and Samantha Romanowski (10.2). Western Illinois owns the all-time series record 7-1. The Leathernecks fell in the first-ever meeting, but have tallied off seven straight wins, including the pair of regular season meetings this season.
FIVE MEMBERS EARN SUMMIT LEAGUE LEAGUE HONORS:
Five members of the Western Illinois women's basketball program earned All-Summit League awards, the league office announced on Thursday (March 2).
Head Coach JD Gravina, Emily Clemens, Morgan Blumer, Olivia Braun and Taylor Higginbotham all garnered Summit League honors. For the first time in program history, Western Illinois has five different honorees. The women's basketball program has also won a program-record eight combined Summit League awards.
For the full release, click HERE.
RECORD SEASON:
Following Western Illinois' win over South Dakota to clinch the outright league regular season championship, the Leathernecks did the following:
-Western Illinois won its first regular season league title since 2005-06 and sixth Summit League regular season title all-time…
-The Leathernecks have matched a program-record with 23 wins (23-7 in 2005-06)… They have also set a new program record for the most home wins in a single season… Twenty-three is the most regular season wins in program history… Western has also won 12 of the last 14…
-The 1,596 fans at home against the Coyotes is the largest women's basketball attendance record in Western Hall… The game also marked the first-ever Leatherneck win over South Dakota inside Western Hall…
-Western Illinois is 2-0 when tied at halftime… 15-0 when scoring at least 80 points in a game…
-The win also marks head coach JD Gravina's third conference championship in his career, and his first at Western Illinois and on the Division I level.
MID-MAJOR POLL RECOGNITION:
COLLEGE INSIDER MID-MAJOR POLL
ESPNW.COM MID-MAJOR POLL
RPI RANKINGS.COM
TOURNAMENT BRACKET
The Western Illinois women's basketball program recently cracked the top-10 in the espnW.com Mid-Major Poll and rolled into the top-20 nationally in the CollegeInsider.com Women's Basketball Mid-Major Poll. For the final espnW.com Mid-Major Poll of the season, Western Illinois (23-6, 13-3) jumped to the No. 9 spot nationally as the only Summit League representative. This is the first time this season the Leathernecks have made it into the espnW.com Mid-Major Poll.
The Leathernecks jumped from No. 24 to the No. 20 spot for the CollegeInsider.com Women's Basketball Mid-Major Poll after defeating South Dakota on Feb. 25 to clinch the regular season league crown and the No. 1 spot in The Summit League Championship. Western Illinois is one of four Summit League teams ranked within the top-70 nationally for RPI. The Leathernecks recently ranked 67th—its highest ranking in program history. According to RealTimeRPI.com, The Summit League ranks 11th nationally in total RPI out of 32 conferences.
CLEMENS EARNS FIFTH PLAYER OF THE WEEK:
Western Illinois guard Emily Clemens has been named The Summit League Women's Basketball Player of the Week, the league office announced on Monday (Feb. 27). This marks the fifth time Clemens has earned the honor, which ties Ashley Luke (2014-15) for the most in a single season in WIU program history. The junior from Muscatine, Iowa earned the weekly honor on Nov. 21, Nov. 28, Dec. 12, Feb. 6 and Feb. 27. This also represents the eighth time a Western Illinois player has earned Summit League Player of the Week, with Morgan Blumer winning it twice (Jan. 17, Feb. 13) and Taylor Higginbotham garnering the award Jan. 9.
Over the week, Clemens helped Western Illinois win its seventh and eighth straight games, respectively, and clinch its first Summit League outright regular season title since the 2005-06 season. Against Fort Wayne (Feb. 22), the Leathernecks clinched a share of the championship behind Clemens' double-double of 25 points and 12 assists on 7-of-14 (50 percent) shooting. She was also 10-for-12 from the charity stripe.
She followed that up with another double-double of 24 points and 10 assists in the win over South Dakota (Feb. 25) to clinch the outright league title and the No. 1 seed in The Summit League tournament. In that game, she moved to third all-time in program history for career assists (411), and also tied the single season program record for assists (205). One more assist will give her the outright single-season record. The junior guard also set a new career high in free throws made, going a perfect 16-for-16 from the charity stripe.
Over the week, Clemens averaged 24.5 points, 11.0 assists and 4.5 rebounds per game with a 5.5 assist/turnover ratio. She also shot 10-of-24 (41.7 percent) and 26-for-28 (92.9 percent) from the free throw line.
PROMOTIONAL:
Fans can hear Danny Frey call all of the women's basketball games throughout the area on the Leatherneck Sports Network.
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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