LEBANON, Ill. - McKendree University women's basketball prepares to host William Jewell on Thursday at 5:30 p.m. and Truman State on Saturday at 1 p.m. this week after grabbing two Great Lakes Valley Conference wins last week. The Bearcats defeated Quincy 63-60 before claiming a 70-63 victory against Illinois-Springfield.
With the wins, McKendree improved to 9-10 overall and 6-6 in the GLVC.
ABOUT THE BEARCATS
As a team, McKendree is shooting the fourth-highest percentage from the field in the GLVC at 43.9 percent in addition to a fifth-highest percentage from the free throw line at 73.3 percent. Defensively, the Bearcats are holding opponents to just 65.6 points per game (3rd in GLVC) and 30.0 percent from the three point line (2nd in GLVC).
Junior forward Naomi McDaniel leads McKendree in scoring average, netting 13.1 points per game. In conference standings, McDaniel is first in blocked shots (1.37 per game), third in field goal percentage (55.8 percent), and ninth in rebounding (6.9 per game).
Sophomore guard Clare Breden is second for the Bearcats in scoring with 10.0 points per game and leads McKendree in assists, dishing out 42 total for the season. Topping the field goal and free throw percentage columns is junior guard Erin Golden, shooting 56.8 percent from the field and 83.7 percent from the charity stripe.
ABOUT THE CARDINALS
William Jewell sports a 4-19 overall record and a 2-11 conference record after falling 79-68 to Missouri S&T on Saturday.
The Cardinals are averaging 59.0 points per game while shooting 36.3 percent from the field, 30.5 percent from three, and 70.4 percent from the free throw line. In conference standings, William Jewell averages a sixth-highest 6.74 made three pointers per game.
Two Cardinals are nearly averaging double figures as William Jewell is led in scoring by Ayden Shannon with 9.8 points per game and Emree Zars with 9.7 points per game.
Thursday's game will mark the second meeting of McKendree and William Jewell this season as the Bearcats defeated the Cardinals 75-70 back in late November.
ABOUT THE BULLDOGS
Truman State holds a 15-6 overall record and an 11-2 record in the conference as they will face Indianapolis on Thursday before playing McKendree. Truman State averages 78.0 points per game, the second-highest in the GLVC, and sports the highest field goal percentage (46.6 percent) and three-point percentage (37.7 percent).
Hannah Belanger leads the Bulldogs and the conference with 22.1 points per game and 71 three-pointers made on the season. Ellie Weltha is fourth in scoring average at 16.9 points per game. Weltha is also second in rebounding (9.6 per game) and in field goal percentage (58.3 percent) for the GLVC. Gracie Stugart averages 5.14 assists per game, also leading the conference.
McKendree is also facing Truman State for the second time in the 2022-23 season. The Bulldogs narrowly escaped with a 79-72 win over the Bearcats.
UP NEXT
McKendree will get ready for its next round of GLVC games as they travel to Southwest Baptist on Feb. 9 and Rockhurst on Feb. 11.
