LEBANON, Ill. – McKendree University women's basketball will play two home Great Lakes Valley Conference games in the Melvin Price Convocation Center in a span of three days beginning on Thursday, Jan. 20 and concluding on Saturday, Jan. 22.

The Bearcats will open the homestand with a 5:30 p.m. contest on Thursday with Quincy University and then will meet the University of Illinois-Springfield for the second time this season on Saturday at 1 p.m.

This weekend's two games will be complete a stretch of three games in six days for the Bearcats as they began the week with a 90-59 setback on Monday in Evansville, Ind., against the University of Southern Indiana.

The Bearcats comes into play this week sporting a 2-11 overall record and a 1-5 mark in the GLVC after its loss at USI. The loss at USI came four days after the Bearcats earned its first GLVC win of the season with a 63-58 victory on Jan. 13 over the University of Indianapolis. The win over UIndy snapped a six game losing skid for the Bearcats.

In Monday's game at UIS, sophomore guard Christy Fortune paced the way for the Bearcats with a game-high 18 points and added eight rebounds, while second year freshman guard Clare Breden (Jerseyville, Ill./Jerseyville Community) added 13 points in the loss. USI's win was keyed 11 made three-pointers and a 50-30 edge on the glass. In addition, the Screaming Eagles forced the Bearcats into 201 turnovers that led to 27 points.

ABOUT McKENDREE
The Bearcats, who are playing its seventh and eighth GLVC games of the season and their seventh and eighth home games of the year this weekend, are led offensively by Fortune, who is averaging 13.4 points and 6.9 rebounds per game and is shooting 48 percent from the field, 43 percent from the 3-point line and 72 percent from the free throw line. She has scored in double figures in seven of 12 games and has pulled down seven or more rebounds in nine games, including a career high 10 boards against both Blackburn and UIS. Fortune is currently 15th in the league in scoring, 10th in rebounding, tied for third in made treys per game (2.6) and fifth in made 3-pointers (31).

In addition to Fortune, the other Bearcat averaging in double figures is Breden as she is averaging 10.8 points, 3.4 rebounds and 1.8 assists per game and is shooting 41 percent from the field, 29 percent from the 3-point line and 69 percent at the free throw line. Breden has reached double figures in scoring in a team best eight games, including scoring three straight games of scoring in double figures and she has had three game of scoring 20 or more points.

A third Bearcat is averaging over 8.5 points per game as sophomore guard Erin Golden (Batavia, Ill./Batavia) is third in scoring as she is averaging 8.9 points, 3.5 rebounds and 2.1 assists per game and is shooting 39 percent from the field and leads the team in made free throws with 24 and is shooting 83 percent from the line on the year.

Three players (Fortune, Breden and Golden) have scored over 100 points on the season as Fortune has tallied 161 points, while Breden has scored 141 points and Golden has scored 116 points.
 
As a team, McKendree is averaging 51.7 points per game is are allowing 73.4 points per game and is shooting 37 percent from the field, 30 percent from the 3-point line and 68 percent at the free throw line. Additionally, the Bearcats are getting outrebounded by 10.6 boards per game and are averaging 6.5 steals per game, which is 11th in the latest league statistics. Four Bearcats led by Breden's 15 have collected 10 or more steals on the season.

Defensively, the Bearcats opponents are shooting 44 percent from the field, 34 percent from the 3-point line and 75 percent from the free throw line and their foes have scored 70 or more points in nine games. The Bearcats are one of the best teams in Division II at not fouling as they are committing just 12.6 fouls per game, which is fourth-best in NCAA Division II. On the season, the Bearcats have been whistled for a total of 166 fouls in 13 games.

McKendree is coached by Kari Kerkhoff and she is 69-103 in her seventh season as the Bearcats head coach. Her 69 wins are third most in school history, while her seven years are tied with Ann DeBoe (1990-97) for second longest tenure in program history.

ABOUT QUINCY
Quincy comes into Thursday's game sporting a 5-11 overall record and a 1-7 mark in the GLVC following it 73-59 home loss on Monday against Missouri S&T. The Hawks have dropped three straight and five of its first six games to open the New Year with the lone win coming at William Jewell (69-38) on Jan. 8.

Junior guard Beth Matas Martin is the lone Hawk player scoring in double figures on the season as she is averaging 12.7 points and 4.3 rebounds per game and is shooting 46 percent from the field, 37 percent from the 3-point line and has dished out 62 assists on the year.

In addition to Matas Martin, junior forward Sarah Nelson is averaging 9.0 points and 4.8 rebounds per game and is shooting 50 percent from the field, while sophomore forward Regan Loconte is averaging 8.0 points per game and is shooting 39 percent from the field and 30 percent from the 3-point line. Matas Martin, Loconte and sophomore forward Grace Flanagan have each hit over 20 treys on the season.

As a team, Quincy is averaging 61.4 points per game and have been held under 60 points in its last two games and nine times overall on the season. Despite scoring only 61.4 points per game on offense, the Hawks have been strong on defense this season as they are fifth in the league in scoring defense as they allow 64 points per game. In GLVC play, the Hawks are averaging 58.6 points per game and allowing 64.9 points per game.

Quincy is coached by first-year head coach Kaci Bailey. Bailey came to QU after spending the previous three seasons as an assistant coach at George Mason University. Bailey played collegiately at Southern Illinois-Carbondale and was a member of the Salukis' 2007 Missouri Valley Conference championship team.

Thursday's game will mark the 11th all-time meeting in the series between the two schools with Quincy holding a 6-4 edge in the series. The Bearcats have won four of the last five games in the series with QU's lone win coming last season as the Hawks picked up a 68-63 win on its home court. Quincy leads 3-2 at McKendree and holds a 3-2 lead at Quincy.

ABOUT ILLINOIS-SPRINGFIELD
The Prairie Stars, who play at Southern Indiana on Thursday, enters this week's action sporting an 8-5 overall record and a 3-4 mark in the GLVC after snapping its three game losing skid with a 68-58 home win on Monday over Maryville. The win over Maryville was the first for UIS since they completed non-conference play with a 79-71 win at Bradley on Dec. 19.

One of the strengths of UIS's team is their ability to force turnovers as they are fifth in the league in that category as they are forcing 17.8 turnovers per game and averaging 8.2 steals per game. Along with forcing turnovers, another strength for UIS is free throw shooting as they are third in the league in that category as they are shooting 76 percent from the line on the year. UIS is averaging 17.1 made free throws per game.

Offensively, UIS is averaging 68.7 points per game and allowing 65.1 points per game. The Prairie Stars are shooting 40 percent from the field and 29 percent from the 3-point line, while their foes are shooting 41 percent from the field and 30 percent from long distance.

Junior guard Lauren Ladowksi is one of the scorers in the league as she enters play this week sitting fourth in the league in scoring at 16.7 points per game and she leads the league in steals as she is averaging 2.6 per game and is seventh in free throw shooting (81.9 percent). She has had 68 career double figure scoring games and is second all-time in scoring in UIS history with 1,255 points.

Ladowski is one of three UIS players averaging in double figures on the season as sophomore guard Malea Jackson is second in scoring at 12.1 points per game and is shooting 33 percent from the 3-point line and 74 percent at the free throw line and junior forward Ellie Mitchell is third in scoring at 10.6 points per game and is shooting 43 percent from the field and is second in assists with 28.

Sophomore forward Jalyn Harris is third in the GLVC in rebounding as she is averaging 8.4 boards per game and has recorded two double-doubles and has blocked seven shots in nine games.

Casey Thousand is in her third season as the Prairie Stars' head coach and has compiled a 27-35 record and is 110-132 in her 10th season as a collegiate head coach after spending the 2009-16 seasons as the head coach at Edgewood (Wis.) College.  

Saturday's game will be the second meeting this season and 46th all-time in the series with McKendree holding a 33-12 edge in the series. Earlier this season, UIS opened GLVC play with an 81-52 home win over the Bearcats. McKendree has won four straight games at home in the series and is 20-3 on its home court against the Prairie Stars. In addition, Kerkhoff is 7-5 as McKendree's coach against UIS.
 
UP NEXT
Following this weekend's action, McKendree will hit the road for two games in Missouri as they being the road swing on Thursday, Jan. 27 with a 5:30 p.m. game in Liberty, Mo., against William Jewell, before traveling to Kirksville, Mo., for a 1 p.m. game on Saturday, Jan. 29 against Truman State. The Bulldogs collected a 79-55 win over the Bearcats in the team's first meeting this season in Lebanon on Jan. 8.