LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – The Trojans welcome one of the better teams in the Ohio Valley Conference Saturday afternoon to the Jack Stephens Center. Little Rock and Western Illinois will tangle at 1 p.m. The men's game will follow 30 minutes after.
WIU owns the best overall record in the OVC at 14-2 and is tied with Southern Indiana for first place in the OVC with a 6-1 mark.
The Trojans (9-9, 5-2) are one game behind WIU and USI in second place in the standings.
GAME INFO
Who: Western Illinois (14-2, 6-1) at Little Rock (9-9, 5-2)
When: 1 p.m. Saturday, January 17
Where: Jack Stephens Center (5,600), Little Rock, Ark.
Radio: 106.7 Buz2 (Trey Schaap, pxp) Listen
HERE.
Video: ESPN+ (Michael Westbrook, pxp; Shameka Christon, analyst) Watch
HERE.
SERIES HISTORY
•Little Rock leads the series 3-0.
•All the meetings have come in the past two years.
COACH SPEAK
"Western Illinois is an outstanding team. We'll need our best effort to beat them. We have to play all four quarters and defend at a high level, and I know we'll be ready to play."
- Little Rock Head Coach, Steve Wiedower
TROJAN TIDBITS
•Little Rock's defense bothered Eastern Illinois in a 55-47 win Thursday night. EIU committed 22 turnovers and only scored 11 points in the third quarter. The Panthers shot 31% from the field and only made 5-of-21 (24%) three-pointers.
•Senior guard
Alaina Payne had a solid game notching 12 points, 8 rebounds and 2 assists. She was 4-of-6 from the field and converted on both of her three-point attempts.
•
Jordan Holman is the second-leading scorer in the OVC, but she played well defensively Thursday. She totaled two blocks and two steals while contributing 11 points.
SCOUTING THE LEATHERNECKS
•WIU's only losses have come at Iowa and UT Martin.
•The Leathernecks lead the OVC in scoring offense with 79.4 ppg.
•Mia Nicastro leads the OVC in scoring with a 23.8 ppg average. The 6-foot-2 senior from St. Charles, Mo., poured in a season-high 33 points Tuesday night in a win against Eastern Illinois. She also leads the team with 10.1 rebounds per game.
•Junior guard Raegan McCowan has been sidelined since December 18 with an elbow injury. The 6-0 guard from Lebanon, Mo., averaged 17 ppg over the first 10 games. She also averaged 6.4 rebounds.
•Addi Brownfield, a 5-9 senior guard, is averaging 12.0 points per game. The Booneville, Mo., native scored 21 points in the loss to UT Martin.
