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Western Illinois University Athletics

Jinda Guidinger
Larry Dean

Vegas Bound

Western’s women’s basketball team will play UTEP and Furman in the Las Vegas Holiday Hoops Classic.

Western Illinois (3-8) vs. UTEP (2-8), Furman (6-4)                      
Date/Tipoff: Dec. 20, 2018 | 4:30 p.m. (UTEP)
Date/Tipoff: Dec. 21, 2018 | 4:30 p.m. (Furman)
Location: Las Vegas, Nev.
Site: South Point Arena
Radio: Ryan Kent Jr. (WRMS)


Las Vegas Holiday Hoops Classic: The Las Vegas Holiday Hoops Classic is a three-day tournament that fields seven schools across the nation. The Leathernecks will tango with Texas-El Paso on Thursday before concluding action inside the South Point Arena on Friday against Furman. 

Dec. 20 | Furman vs. Fairfield | 2 p.m.
Dec. 20 | Western Illinois vs. Texas – El Paso (UTEP)| 4:30 p.m.
Dec. 20 | Jackson State vs. Akron | 7 p.m.

Dec. 21 | Fairfield vs. Illinois-Chicago (UIC) | 2 p.m.
Dec. 21 | Western Illinois vs. Furman | 4:30 p.m.
Dec. 21 | Akron vs. UTEP | 7 p.m.

Dec. 22 | UIC vs. Jackson State | 1 p.m. 

Series: Western will be meeting both of its tournament opponents for the first time. 

Western's Last Outing: Twelve days will separate the Leathernecks from their last official competition, as their last game concluded their appearance in the inaugural Compass Challenge. The two-day tournament included all four cardinal direction schools in the state of Illinois, and pit Western against Eastern Illinois (Dec. 7) and Northern Illinois (Dec. 8). 

vs. EIU: Trailing for the majority of the contest, the Leathernecks embarked on a 12-2 run late in the fourth quarter to pull within two points, 54-52, with 3:36 remaining. The game sat knotted at 60-all in the final minute, but the Leathernecks were unable to complete the comeback in the 64-62 loss. 

Danni Nichols accounted for nine of Western's points in the fourth-quarter spurt and finished the evening with a game-high, career-high 20 points, coming off of the bench. 

vs. NIU: The Huskies posted an 86-61 victory over the Leathernecks to wrap tournament play. Despite finishing the game with 10 made three-pointers, the game marked Western's lowest shooting percentage (29.5) since its trip to Purdue on Dec. 15. 

All-Tournament: Danni Nichols represented the Leathernecks on the Compass Challenge All-Tournament Team. The redshirt-freshman from Columbia, Mo., had a career game against EIU with 20 points and four steals and was inserted into the starting lineup – her fourth career start – against NIU.  

Running Point: Western Illinois has a new floor chief, and her name is Olivia Kaufmann. She's the Leathernecks' primary ball handler with 29 assists credited and is also the team's leading scorer with 14.4 points per game. 

The junior became the Leathernecks' starting point guard this season and has seen the most action on the floor with 311 minutes played.  

League Leading: The Leathernecks sit atop The Summit League in several categories:
 
Free-Throw Attempts – 222 (23rd in the NCAA)
Free-Throws Made – 162 (15th in the NCAA)
Steals – 134 (6th in the NCAA)
Three-Point Attempts – 343 (3rd in NCAA)
Three-Points Made – 104 (7th in NCAA)
Turnovers Forced – 24.27 per game (5th in the NCAA)
 
*nation marks as of Dec. 18

The Long Ball: Western sits seventh in the nation with 104 three-point field goals made. As a team, WIU has made 10 or more treys in three games this season including a program-record 28 against MacMurray College earlier this season (Nov. 12) which also set an NCAA Division I record. 

Taylor Higginbotham and Elizabeth Lutz lead the charge with 18 treys each while Olivia Kaufmann adds 12. 

Road Woes: The Leathernecks are still in search of their first road win of the season after starting the year with setbacks at Purdue, Butler, Southeast Missouri, Bradley, Eastern Illinois, and Northern Illinois. 

Offensively, when comparing home and away stats (neutral sites included), Western is averaging 23 less points on the road (85.8 vs. 62.2). 

The Lone Ranger: Taylor Higginbotham is the lone senior on the Leathernecks' 2018-19 roster, and she sits fifth all-time on the Leathernecks' career scoring list after passing Kelle Lindbeck (1981-84) and Michelle Maher (2013-16) at Bradley.
 
Higginbotham currently manages 1,511 points, shooting 40.0 percent from the field, while also ranking seventh in Western history in rebounds (661) and sixth in steals (211). 
 
Western Scoring Leaders
1. 1,699,  Emily Clemens .............................. 2014-17
2. 1,547,  Zane Teilane ................................... 2003-06
3. 1,531, Ashley Luke .................................... 2013-15
4. 1,525, Robin Hasemann........................... 1988-91

Saving Grace: Grace Gilmore has started off her sophomore campaign on the highest of notes. She was inserted into the starting lineup this season, appearing in every game so far, and has already surpassed several of her 2017-18 stats.
 
2017-18: Minutes (169), Rebounds (36), Steals (7), Points (77)
2018-19: Minutes (302), Rebounds (58), Steals (16), Points (98)

Scouting the Miners: UTEP held Arizona to its lowest point production this season, but 23 turnovers and 15 made field goals proved to be the difference in the 62-40 loss. The Miners enter the holiday tournament with a pair of wins under their belt and are in the midst of an eight-game winless skid. 

Junior forward Zuzanna Puc leads the team in points and rebounds with averages of 13.3 and 6.3 respectively, and Ariona Gill (12.4 PPG) and Katarina Zec (9.1 PPG) round out the Miners' top three scorers. 

Scouting the Paladins: Furman (6-4) will be coming off of back-to-back wins over Gardner-Webb and Florida Atlantic before it meets Fairfield on Thursday. 

Offensively, Le'Jzae Davidson and Celena Taborn are averaging 16.3 PPG and 10.4 PPG, especially, while Kaitlyn Duncan has been the most active on the boards with 6.7 RPG.  
 
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