Women's Basketball Plays Host To Denver In Mid-Week Tilt

The Leathernecks look to bounce back against the Pioneers

GAME 21
WOMEN'S BASKETBALL: WESTERN ILLINOIS LEATHERNECKS vs DENVER PIONEERS
Jan. 24, 2018 • 7 p.m. • Macomb, Ill. • Western Hall
LIVE STATS: HERE
LISTEN: HERE
ESPN3: HERE

ROSTER | SCHEDULE | TICKETS | RECORD BOOK | @WIUWBB | GAME NOTES VS DENVER | DENVER GAME NOTES VS WIU

MACOMB, Ill. — Western Illinois plays host to the visiting Denver Pioneers for Summit League action Wednesday (Jan. 24) at 7 p.m. inside Western Hall. The game is available for viewing live on ESPN3.

BURRITO DAY: The first 250 students inside Western Hall with the WIU Purple Platoon app will receive a FREE Chipotle burrito.

THINK PINK: Looking ahead to this Saturday (Jan. 27), Western Illinois Athletics holds its annual 'Think Pink' promotion, where all proceeds go to Linda's Fund for breast cancer awareness. Following the game, players will be available for an autograph session for all fans.

LAST TIME OUT: The Western Illinois University women's basketball team dropped to 14-6 and 4-2 in Summit League play following an 84-48 loss to South Dakota State (16-4, 5-0) on the road Saturday (Jan. 20). Emily Clemens led the way for WIU with 16 points, three rebounds and three assists. She also hit a trio of three-pointers in the game.

'SO YOU WANT TO BE A COACH': As announced Tuesday (Jan. 23), Emily Clemens is one of 61 players nationally to be named a participant in the Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) 'So You Want To Be A Coach' program, which takes place March 28-30 in Columbus, Ohio.

Each member will participate in a three-day workshop with speakers provided by the Alliance of Women's Coaches in conjunction with the WBCA Convention.

SCOUTING DENVER: The Pioneers sit at 12-9 overall and 3-3 in league action thus far. Most recently, Denver saw a two-game winning streak snapped at Oral Roberts (Jan. 20), where they fell 90-60. So far, Denver has Summit League wins over Fort Wayne (73-55), North Dakota State (98-79) and Omaha (85-74), with losses at South Dakota (79-51), versus South Dakota State (69-58) and Oral Roberts. They are led by Claire Gritt's 10.0 points per contest, while Briana Johnson is second with 9.0 points per contest. The team is led by Jim Turgeon, who is in his first season at the helm of the Pioneers' women's basketball program. Turgeon is the brother of Maryland men's basketball coach Mark Turgeon.

THE SERIES: Western Illinois owns the all-time series 8-1 against Denver. After dropping the first-ever meeting on Jan. 26, 2014, the Leathernecks have rattled off eight straight wins. Last season, the Purple and Gold swept both regular season meetings, and opened the 2017 Summit League Tournament against the Pioneers, where they came out victorious with an 82-39 win (March 4, 2017). In that game, Western set a Summit League Tournament record of 15 made three-pointers in a single game. That win also marked Western's 24th of 2016-17, which set a program record for the most wins in a season at the time (finished the season 26-7).

I GOT 597 PROBLEMS BUT A DISH AIN'T ONE: Senior Emily Clemens is currently three assists shy of becoming the only Leatherneck, and just the third-ever Summit League player, to accumulate 600 career assists. She ranks behind Leah Cannon's 603 (Oral Roberts, 2002-06) and Nicole Seekamp's 623 (South Dakota, 2012-16). With 7.5 assists per contest, Clemens tops The Summit League in assists per game and ranks sixth nationally in the category.

LOOKING AHEAD: Western Illinois stays in Macomb as North Dakota State comes to town this Saturday (Jan. 27) at 4:30 p.m. The game marks the second straight home game of the season before the team hits the road for a pair of road games at South Dakota (Feb. 1) and Oral Roberts (Feb. 3).

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Players Mentioned

#2 Emily Clemens: G; 5' 4"; Senior; Muscatine

Players Mentioned

#2 Emily Clemens
: 5' 4"; Senior; Muscatine
: G

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Players Mentioned

#2 Emily Clemens

Players Mentioned

#2 Emily Clemens