Sarah Twidwell

Leathernecks Reach Mid-Point of League Schedule at South Dakota

Thursday, January 24, 2019

Western heads to South Dakota Saturday at 1 p.m.

Western Illinois (8-12, 4-3) at South Dakota (17-3, 5-1)
Date / Tipoff:	Saturday, Jan. 26 \| 1 p.m.
Location:	Vermillion, S.D.
Site:	Sanford Coyote Sports Center
Radio:	Ryan Kent Jr. (WRMS)

Series History: The Leathernecks will reach the midpoint of their Summit League schedule this Saturday at South Dakota. The Coyotes lead the all-time series, 12-3, having won both contests in the 2017-18 slate.

Western's Last Outing: WIU cruised to its third consecutive win after defeating Purdue Fort Wayne by a score of 73-59 inside Western Hall. Four Leathernecks scored in double figures, starred by Danni Nichols' game-high, career-high 21 points, and as a team, Western tied its program record for fewest turnovers in a game (4).

League Accolades: Olivia Kaufmann was voted Summit League Player of the Week after putting up a pair of complete games for the Leathernecks against Omaha and Purdue Fort Wayne. She nearly captured her first career double-double with 17 points and a career-high nine assists versus UNO before wrapping Western's homestand with 13 points, eight assists and seven steals against the Mastodons.

Kaufmann currently ranks second in the Summit League with 75 dimes, while pacing it in steals (61) – almost double the amount of the next ranked student-athlete who has 31.

The weekly honor marked Western's second of the season as Taylor Higginbotham garnered the award on Dec. 22.

The Lone Ranger: Taylor Higginbotham is the lone senior on the Leathernecks' 2018-19 roster, and she sits second all-time on Westerns' career scoring list with 1,665 points, just 35 points away from eclipsing the program record.

Her former teammate and current assistant coach Emily Clemens became the program's all-time leading scorer a season ago where she finished her career with 1,699 points.

Western Career Rankings
Points | 1,649 (2nd)
Field Goals | 580 (4th)
3-Point Field Goals Made | 227 (1st)
Free Throws Made | 278 (7th)
Steals | 223 (5th)
Rebounds | 739 (3rd)
Minutes | 3,326 (3rd)

Ten Makes: Danni Nichols joined Olivia Kaufmann and Elizabeth Lutz atop the Leathernecks' single-game highs with 10 made field goals at Purdue Fort Wayne (Jan. 19). All three have hit the mark at some point this season, and it currently sits as the most made in the 2017-18 season.

Lutz was the first to do so against MacMurray College (Nov. 12) where she finished the game with 23 points before Kaufmann followed suit with a career-high 28 points against North Dakota (Jan. 13). Nichols' 10 field goal effort also set a collegiate best with 21 points.

Top 3: The Leathernecks sit 'Top 3' in The Summit League in several categories:

Free-Throw Attempts – 404 (2nd SL / 10th in the NCAA)
Free-Throws Made – 301 (1st / 4th)
Steals – 229 (1st / 5th)
Three-Point Attempts – 585 (1st / 3rd)
Three-Points Field Goals Made – 178 (3rd / 9th)
Turnovers Forced – 22.50 PG (1st / 10th)

*national marks as of Jan. 24

The Long Ball: Western sits ninth in the nation with 178 made 3-pointers. As a team, WIU has made 10 or more treys in six games this season including a program-record 28 against MacMurray College (Nov. 12) which also set an NCAA Division I record.

Running Point: Western Illinois has a new floor chief, and her name is Olivia Kaufmann. She is the Leathernecks' primary ball handler with a team-high 75 assists while also guiding the offense with 15.3 points per game, ranking first and fifth in the Summit League, respectively.

The junior became the Leathernecks' starting point guard this season and has seen the most action on the floor with 620 minutes.

New Kyra on the Block: Kyra Washington joined the Leathernecks at the start of the 2018-19 season after transferring in from Parkland College. She's been an absolute spark off the bench for Western, shooting 43.8 percent from beyond the arc with 6.2 points per game. Twenty-eight of Washington's 38 field goals have come from 3-point territory, and she's currently tied for second on the team in the category.

Washington has made three or more 3-pointers in six games, highlighted by a perfect 4-for-4 performance at South Dakota State.

Ring the Bel: On a roster that includes six freshmen, South Dakota State transfer Annabel Graettinger helped bolster the Leathernecks veteran leadership ahead of the 2018-19 season. The redshirt-junior is one of four on the team with Summit League Championship experience as she won the title with SDSU in 2016. (Olivia Kaufmann, Sam Pryor, and Taylor Higginbotham are the only three remaining from Western's 2017 championship run.)

In 17 starts this season, Graettinger has scored in double-figures 12 times, and her minutes have drastically increased since mid-December, with 30-plus in each of the last nine games.

On the Verge: Olivia Kaufmann has been on the edge of capturing her first career double-double four times this season.

at Oral Roberts (Jan. 5) | 14 points, 9 rebounds
at North Dakota State (Jan. 11) | 13 points, 9 rebounds
Omaha (Jan. 16) | 17 points, 9 assists

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), Assists (15), Steals (7), Points (77)
2018-19: Minutes (526), Rebounds (91), Assists (31), Steals (25), Points (145)

Boards & More: Averaging 7.7 rebounds per game, Taylor Higginbotham is the most active Leatherneck on the boards. She currently ranks third in the Summit League in the category and has pulled down 10 or more in five games this season, finishing with a double-double in each of the contests.

Austin Peay: 12 rebounds, 14 points
Furman: 12 rebounds, 16 points
Denver: 17 rebounds (career-high), 23 points
Oral Roberts: 10 rebounds, 16 points
North Dakota State: 10 rebounds, 21 points

The Leathernecks are 3-2 in games where Higginbotham posts a double-double.

Scouting the Coyotes: South Dakota (17-3, 5-1 Summit League) is scheduled to take on North Dakota Friday night before playing host to the Leathernecks.

Led by a pair of 1,000-point scorers in Ciara Duffy and Allison Arens, the Coyotes have received votes in the Associated Press poll for eight-straight weeks and the USA Today Coaches poll for seven of the last eight weeks. Duffy currently leads the Summit in league play with 18 points per game.

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