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Alissa Dins
Rachael Keating

Road Stretch

| By: WIU Athletic Communications

Leathernecks head to North Dakota for the first stop of the road stretch.

Who | Western Illinois (3-13, 2-6) at North Dakota (0-13, 0-7) 
When | Friday (Jan. 29) and Saturday (Jan. 30) at 5 p.m. 
Where | Betty Engelstad Sioux Center - Grand Forks, N.D.
TV | ND Insider 
Social Media | Twitter + Facebook #TRADITIONofTOUGH

Tip-Off | Western Illinois heads to North Dakota on Friday (Jan. 29) and Saturday (Jan. 30) as the first leg of back-to-back road trips.   

 Headlines 
  • Elizabeth Lutz set a career-high of seven steals vs. South Dakota (Jan. 22), the swipes are most by a league player this year and she ranks 4th in the country with 40 total. 
  • The series opener on Friday (Jan. 29) will serve as game 100 for Grace Gilmore as a Leatherneck. 
  • Evan Zars was named The Summit League Player of the week last Monday (Jan. 18) after posting back-to-back double-doubles. The award was her first career as she was named Newcomer of the Year last season. 
  • Senior Grace Gilmore sits 4th in free throw attempts (102) and 7th in free throws made (74) nationally. Her 20 attempts on Saturday (Jan. 16) set the program record in a game and are tied for the most by a player this year. The 15 makes are good for 4th all-time, tying Kelle Lindbeck (1/8/82) at Iowa. 
  • Danni Nichols has scored double-digits in seven out of eight Summit League contests this season for a total of 12 double-digit performances this year.
  • The all-time series is tied 3-3 with Western holding a 1-2 record at UND.  
Summit Leaders | Both as a team and individually Western leads the conference in multiple categories - rebounds (494), steals (130) steals per game (8.1), three-point field goals attempted (392). 
 
Individually
-Grace Gilmore | assists (60), free-throws made (79), and free-throws attempted (109)
-Elizabeth Lutz | steals (43) and steals per game (2.7)
-Evan Zars | double-doubles (6), minutes played (469), and rebounds (141) 
 
Minutes | Starters Evan Zars (469), Grace Gilmore (466), Danni Nichols (465), and Elizabeth Lutz (457) rank 1-4 in minutes played in the Summit. 
 
Scouting the Opposition | North Dakota sits at 0-13 overall and 0-7 in Summit League play… the Fighting Hawks recently were swept at SDSU over the weekend… last year's Second Team All-Summit section, Julia Fleecs ranks 9th in the conference, averaging 13. 9 points per game… UND leads the Summit in rebounds per game (41.1) and offensive rebounds (187). 
 
Last Time Out | It was a thriller in round two between Western Illinois (3-13, 2-6) and South Dakota (10-3, 6-0) on Saturday (Jan. 23) evening, with the Coyotes slipping by 61-56. 
 
The battle with the first-place Yotes featured a two-point game (46-44, WIU) to start the fourth quarter. South Dakota took its first lead (47-46) of the second half with an and-one to start the fourth, but the host answered once again. A quick 6-0 push led by Grace Gilmore stretched the advantage to 52-47 into the media stoppage. 
 
The Coyotes continued to scrap, and a big offensive board put back from the Summit League Preseason Player of the Year, Hannah Sjerven, made it 53-52 with 47 seconds left.  WIU would play the foul game for the remainder of the fourth, but the first-place opponents nailed all eight free-throws to hold on.    

Up Next | WIU concludes the road stretch at Omaha on Feb. 6 and Feb. 7. 
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