WHO| Western Illwomen'ss. Illinois-Springfield and Indiana State.
WHEN| Tuesday (Nov. 12) and Thursday (Nov. 14) at 5:30 p.m.
WHERE| Macomb, Ill.
SOCIAL MEDIA| Twitter #TRADITIONofTOUGH
TIP-OFF| Western Illinois women's basketball will finish their home stretch with two games this week, taking on Illinois-Springfield on Tuesday (November 12) and Indiana State on Thursday (November 15).
GRAVINA'S TAKE| "This is a big week in Western Hall for our program," said head coach JD Gravina. "We need to make sure we are locked in and intense mentally. UIS is a good D2 program, and Indiana State is coming off a battle with KU and a win against EIU. These are the type of games that will tell us where we are att and what we need to improve on."
LAST TIME OUT| The Western Illinois women's basketball team hosted the Culver-Stockton Wildcats in its home opener Friday night (November 8), and it resulted in an 82-76 Leatherneck victory. Western starting down was unable to come out on top until Elizabeth Lutz hit a three-pointer for the first Leatherneck lead at 27-26 at 5:26 in the second quarter. The score teetered back and forth to start the third until a 15-point run to give the Leathernecks a definite lead. Forcing another 10-point run to start the fourth quarter, Western secured the victory.
Olivia Kaufman led the team in points for the second consecutive game with 20 points. Annabel Graettinger followed with 17 points, and Evan Zars notched eight rebounds.
SCOUTING THE PRAIRIE STARS| The Prairie Stars are led by Casey Thousand in her first year as head coach at UIS. Competing in the Great Lakes Valley Conference, the division II school posted an 8-18 record last season and is starting 2-0 so far this year. Their roster returns Lauren Ladowski, a sophomore who currently leads the team with 29 points.
SCOUTING THE SYCAMORES| The Sycamores are led by head coach Vicki Hall in her second year at Indiana State. The team is coming off an 11-19 season and has gone 1-1 this season with a close battle with Kansas and a win over Eastern Illinois. Leading the team is LeAndra Echi, with 23 total points and 17 total rebounds.
KAUFMANN'S NOMINATION| The Summit League came out with their preseason basketball lists October 7 with Western Illinois's own Kaufmann landing on All-Summit League second team. The senior guard is entering her final season with the Leathernecks, after averaging 16 points, 5.4 rebounds and 3.8 assists a year ago. She posted a season-high 28 points against North Dakota on February 1, 2019.
ZAR'S LEATHERNECK DEBUT| A transfer from Saint Louis University, the Shawnee, Kans. native made a significant impact in her debut as a Leatherneck. In exhibition play, the 6'2 sophomore started the game against Maryville, October 24, playing 28 minutes, notching a double-double with 17 rebounds and 10 points for an impressive first performance in Western Hall. Opening up the regular season against Mizzou, November 5, Zars posted an impressive 20 rebounds.
SENIOR SEASON| The Leatherneck roster holds four seniors this season, including Graettinger, Kaufmann, Avery Hamm, and Washington. Kaufmann the only senior playing all four years for the Leathernecks has played 87 career games resulting in 743 points and 266 rebounds. Joining the squad in her junior season, Washington has notched 162 points, and 83 rebounds in her one season in a Western jersey. After two years at South Dakota State, Graettinger was able to play her first season for WIU last season with 50 total rebounds and 29 steals. Hamm entering her second year at Western has played 30 games averaging 2.7 points and 1.3 rebounds.
ROCKY'S ROOKIES| WIU women's basketball brought in three new players that stepped on the court for the first time as a Leatherneck this season along with Carla Flores in her redshirt freshman year. Transferring from Saint Loius University, Evan Zars hopes to make a significant impact for Western after coming off a freshman season where she was the second-leading rebounder for the Billikens. True freshman Kennedy Flanagan a Canton, Mo. native, received both MBCA All-State and Academic All-State in her senior season. Alissa Dins, also in her freshman year, is a native to Rosendale, Wisc. lettering in both basketball and volleyball. After redshirting her first year the Barcelona, Spain native, Flores, will make her Leatherneck debut this season after participating in the Thailand FIBA Women's Basketball World Cup representing her native country.
CHALLENGING START| Western Illinois continues in the tradition of stacking a highly competitive pre-league start to the season, including two teams with NCAA appearances in the 2018-19 season as well as Big Ten's Purdue. Both 2019-20 opponents, Drake and Mizzou, faced off for the first round of the NCAA tournament this past season with the Tigers coming out on top. The victory over the Bulldogs propelled the SEC's Mizzou to a second-round performance where they were defeated by Iowa 68-52.
FOOD FIGHT| Each Summit League school has been challenged to raise at least 9,000 pounds of food, and Western Illinois Athletics plans to do its part in serving Macomb and its surrounding communities. WIU Athletics will be accepting donations at all home events -- volleyball, men's and women's basketball, and football -- the week of November 11-17. Food collected will be donated to Loaves & Fishes Etc. and the WIU Food Pantry. This will include Tuesday (November 12) game against ISU and Thursday (November 15) game against Indiana State.
LOOKING AHEAD| Following this week's game, the Leathernecks will head to Purdue to take on the Boilermakers on Sunday (November 17).
