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Evan Zars
Sarah Ritter

Leathernecks, Golden Eagles Meet Again in Summit League Championships

| By: WIU Athletic Communications

Western and ORU take the hardwood Sunday (March 8) at Noon.

GAME THIRTY
 
Who | No. 5 Western Illinois (15-14, 9-7) vs. No. 4 Oral Roberts (14-15, 9-7) 
When | Sunday (March 8) at Noon 
Where | Denny Sanford PREMIER Center - Sioux Falls, S.D.
TV | Midco Sports Network / ESPN+
Radio | WRMS - PBP; RJ Larson & Analyst; Danny Frey 
Social Media | Twitter + Facebook #TRADITIONofTOUGH

Round 2 | The Western Illinois women's basketball team takes on Oral Roberts for the second consecutive year as the No. 5 seed.

The Leathernecks finished tied for third with Denver and ORU, and due to tiebreakers, WIU earned the fifth seed in back-to-back seasons.

Round 1 Recap | Last season's matchups between the Western Illinois and Oral Roberts women's basketball teams were nothing short of entertaining. All three decisions have been separated by seven points or less, and the latest occurred in The Summit League Tournament Sunday (March 10), where the Golden Eagles won 68-64. 

 The Leathernecks crept within five when she splashed another 3-pointer at the 6:48-mark, and it created the closest differential until Taylor Higginbotham drained an extended play to make things 63-60 with 1:17 to go, but ORU sealed the thriller at the free-throw line. 

Postseason History vs. Oral Roberts | Sunday will mark the eighth meeting between both sides in The Summit League Championships. The Golden Eagles own the all-time series 6-1 with Western's last victory in 2012, 83-71. 

The back-to-back postseason matchups is the second occurrence in the series history with each school as it happened last time in the 2004 and 2005 seasons. 

Last 5 meetings:
4/10/19 | L, 68-64 
4/16/16 | L, 68-55
4/3/12 | W, 83-71 
4/15/10 | L, 102-79 
4/7/05 | L, 43-37

Hardware | Evan Zars welcomed herself to The Summit League in style as she was named Newcomer of the Year. The postseason awards were announced Thursday (March 5), as Zars was also named to the All-Newcomer team while Olivia Kaufmann highlighted her final go-around with First Team honors. 

Three's Company | The trio of Olivia Kaufmann (16.9), Danni Nichols (14.4) and Evan Zars (10.4) are all averaged double-digits each time out in Summit League play. All three have secured a 20 point performance in league play with Kaufmann leading the pack with five and Nichols just behind at four. 

O Keeps Climbing | Olivia Kaufmann joined the 1,000-point club in the 79-68 victory over Purdue Fort Wayne on Jan. 9, and the senior guard has continued to climb Western's all-time scoring list. She became the sixth player in program history with 1,000 points and 300 assists.

All-time scoring list
11. 1,313 Gail Diask .......................................1993-96
12. 1,228 Olivia Kaufmann............................2016-Present

Spark Plug Sam | After being sidelined with an injury last season, Sam Pryor has been a spark plug coming off the bench for the Leathernecks this season, hitting clutch shots. Pryor leads the team in three-pointers made and finished tied fourth in The Summit League with 50 along with averaging 7.3 points per game in league play. She is 10 away from tying ninth all-time in a season in the 3-point field goals, set by Michelle Maher in the 2012-13 and 2013-14 seasons.

Dropping Nichols | The Omaha and North Dakota road swing saw Danni Nichols improve her career-high in points each time out. At UNO, she scored a career-high 24 points and notched her first career double-double. The former Summit League Freshman of the Year then built off the performance and poured in 26 points in Grand Forks to improve her career-high.

Nichols increased her points per game each time out from Jan. 24 and bolted from 10.3 to finish at 12.2. The marked placed her 10th in the Summit.

Rebound and Swat Machine | Averaging 9.1 rebounds per game for third-best in The Summit League, Evan Zars is 49th in the nation with 268 total boards, which is seventh all-time in a season. She has swatted 46 opponent shots, which ranks eighth all-time in a season for WIU, and the blocks also pace her for 67th in the country. 

Next Leatherneck Up | After Annabel Graettinger was dealt with a season-ending injury, redshirt freshman Carla Flores slid into the starting lineup. Last season Flores was sidelined all year with her own injury. In 14 starts, she is averaging 7.7 points per game and has dished out 28 assists along with 45 rebounds and four blocks. She set a career-high in Omaha (Jan. 24) with an 18-point performance. 

Get to the Line | WIU has been the top for free-throws attempted in the nation all season long. Currently second with 710, only 1 behind No. 1 Troy. 

The Leathernecks are tied at 9th with Alabama State in free-throws made with 456. The 710 attempts are second all-time in a season as a team and 456 makes is sixth all-time. 

Summit League Championships | The Summit League Championships will tip-off Saturday, March 7, at the Denny Sanford PREMIER Center in Sioux Falls, S.D. Quarterfinal and semifinal games will air on MidcoSN/ESPN+ with the championship game airing on ESPNU. 

The winner of the Summit League Championship will earn an automatic berth to the NCAA Tournament. 

Up Next | If Western Illinois defeats Oral Roberts, it will face the winner of No. 1 South Dakota and No. 8 Omaha on Monday (March 9) at Noon. 

 
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