LEBANON, Ill. - The women's basketball team will take a break from Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC) play and round out their non-conference scheduling by hosting Missouri Western State University on Tuesday, December 17th, followed by a road trip to Davenport University on Saturday, December 21st.
Against Missouri Western, this will only be the second all-time meeting between the two programs as McKendree lost in their first meeting in St. Joseph, Missouri, 50-52 on a buzzer-beating layup from Tamia Cunigan. That game was part of the Fairfield Inn Classic, which the Bearcats split in the 2019-20 season.
Later against Davenport, it will only be the third meeting all-time between the two programs as they have not matched up since the 2018-19 season. McKendree won both games which included a 61-54 win at home on November 11th, 2018, as well as coming out victorious in the previous year on December 30th, 2017, dominating the Panthers 73-53.
BEARCATS CURRENTLY
McKendree is coming off two more victories this past week to push their program-record start to seven straight wins. Head Coach Kari Kerkhoff was named this week's WHoopDirt.com NCAA Division II Coach of the Week honors on Tuesday. She is leading one of only 12 teams in the division that are still unbeaten within the young season. McKendree currently sits 7-0 overall and 3-0 in the GLVC. Assistant Coach Terra Helm was also to the Class of 2025 Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) Next Generation Institute — a high-level education program for experienced assistant coaches who aspire to become collegiate head coaches.
Against Rockhurst University, the Bearcats inherited a huge boost, this time to start the second half where they scored 14 straight points and held Rockhurst scoreless until 2:58 left in the third quarter. McKendree would seal the road win, 66-61, on a plethora of clutch free throws down the final stretch. Sophomore forward Baylie Parks (Lake Zurich, Ill.) led the team in scoring, along with junior guard junior guard Chloe White (Brussels, Ill.) with each having 12 points along with sophomore guard Emma Slings (Polk City, Iowa) notching 11 in the five-point win. In each of the last three games for the Bearcats, senior guard Clare Breden (Jerseyville, Ill.) broke a program career record, with most field goals made in the matchup against Blackburn College on November 23rd, most free throws made against Maryville, and total points against the Hawks.
McKendree prevailed against a winless, yet feisty University of Illinois Springfield on Saturday afternoon at the friendly confines of the Harry M. Statham Sports Center. McKendree never trailed throughout the matchup but did encounter a couple of Prairie Star runs to cut it close, especially when the second half gave them an early 10-2 run to cut it within four. However, a little personal run by Parks upped the lead for the Bearcats heading into the fourth quarter, where both teams would grind it out in trading buckets. McKendree would win convincingly, 72-62 to get to 7-0. The Lake Zurich native was the player of the game for the Bearcats, as she tabbed a career-high in points (26), rebounds (12 (five offensive)), and steals (3) while shooting a very efficient 12-14 (85.7%) from the field and going 2-4 from the line. Breden put up 12 points while going 5-9 from the floor and 2-3 from the charity stripe as she also dished out five assists, pulled down two boards, and grabbed three steals. McKendree dominated the paint by scoring 50 of their points inside the area on a +18 advantage as well as they had a solid 21-9 edge on bench points on the afternoon victory.
Personnel-wise, Parks is up to 3rd in the nation in field goal percentage (49th in points per game), converting 67.5% of her shot attempts while leading the team in scoring and rebounding with 17.6 points and 9.0 rebounds a game, along with three double-doubles thus far. Breden gets to the charity stripe on a regular basis, being placed in the top 30 in free throws taken and made (26th and 24th respectively). The team's ability to handle the ball so well is thanks to Slings, who has an assist/turnover ratio of 2.08, which sits at 38th in Division II.
As a team, McKendree ranks first in the GLVC in several statistical categories, which consist of assists per game (16.3), bench points per game (32.1), field goal percentage (48.5%), free throw percentage (75.3%), free throws made per game (16.6), scoring margin (26.3), scoring offense (83.1 ppg), steals per game (11.1), three-point percentage defense (21.6%), turnover margin (6.7), and turnovers forced per game (19.9). The Bearcats' field goal percentage and scoring margin are placed in the top five in the country.
SCOUTING THE OPPOSITION
Missouri Western State University | Tuesday, December 17th, 5:30 PM CT
Last Matchup: L, 50-52 on 11/29/2019 | RECAP | BOX SCORE
Missouri Western has had a roller-coaster start to their season, as they currently sit at a solid 6-3 in the young season. They started with an impressive 2-0 outing in the NCAA Division II WBB Central Region Showcase, where they hosted a pair of teams from the Mount Rushmore State of South Dakota. They followed with three straight losses in their four-game stretch away from home, playing in the states of Colorado and Minnesota. Now, the Griffons are embarking the Tuesday matchup, winning their last four, including a 42-point win at home against fellow conference-foe Lincoln University (Mo.).
Coming out of the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association (MIAA), the Griffons are one of the better perimeter shooting teams in the entire conference. They are first in the MIAA in three-point attempts per game at 28.2 (12th nationally), three-point percentage of 34.3%, and three-pointers made per game at 9.7 (seventh nationally). Individually, watch out for senior Matilda Soderlund, who will launch it from deep any time she can. She shoots 47.9% on 2.6 attempts from beyond the arc, as her three-point percentage is good for 16th in the entire country. Additionally, senior Alyssa Bonilla – who won last week's MIAA Basketball Athlete of the Week – is a pass-first player for Missouri Western, where she dishes out 5.2 assists (47 total) a night on an efficient 1.62 assist/turnover ratio.
Although an institution built on tradition, the women's basketball program brings in its 10th head coach in program history, Ashton Feldhaus. Coming via Eckerd College in St. Petersburg, Florida, she put together what is now a 10-player roster with half of them being transfers including junior Jessica Ford, who played under Feldhaus at Eckerd. The other four all came by way of NCAA Division I programs in Morehead State University (Soderlund), Kennesaw State University (Laura Toffali), University at Albany (Marie Sepp), and Tarleton State University (Malgorzata Byczkowska). All but one player on this year's roster is an upperclassman, as Kelsey Johnson comes in as a sophomore.
Davenport University | Saturday, December 21st, 12:00 PM CT
Last Matchup: W, 61-54 on 11/17/2018 | RECAP | BOX SCORE
Davenport – who sits at 2-6 overall and 1-1 in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) – has endured a slow start to their new season in which they lost their first five games by a combined total of 95 points (-19.0 scoring margin per game). However, the Panthers were able to come away victorious in two of their last three outings, including a split in their first week of GLIAC-play. They lost by 20 to Wayne State University last Thursday but followed up with a narrow 61-59 win over the Cardinals of Saginaw Valley State University on Saturday.
Before they take on McKendree, the Panthers from Grand Rapids, Michigan will face fellow GLVC-foe Lewis University on Wednesday, December 18th.
One of Davenport's strengths is its contribution at the charity stripe. They are third in their conference in free throw attempts, putting up 16.3 a contest as they are fourth in made free throws a game at 11.9. Nationally, they are 82nd in their percentage of make, knocking down 73.1%.
The Panthers are also 96th in the country in blocks, swatting away 3.3 a game. Credit mostly goes to senior center Lillie Gustafson, who has 2.3 blocks a contest with a total of 14 on the season. That is good for 13th and 37th in the nation respectively as well as both being first in the GLIAC. Gustafson is also second in the conference in offensive rebounding, corralling 3.2 a game.
TUNE IN-FO
vs Missouri Western State University
WATCH: Click HERE ($ – GLVC Sports Network)
LIVE STATS: Click HERE
HISTORY: Click HERE
TEAM ROSTERS: [McKendree] [Missouri Western State]
TEAM SCHEDULES: [McKendree] [Missouri Western State]
TEAM STATISTICS: [McKendree] [Missouri Western State]
at Davenport University
WATCH: Click HERE ($ – FloSports)
LIVE STATS: Click HERE
HISTORY: Click HERE
TEAM ROSTERS: [McKendree] [Davenport]
TEAM SCHEDULES: [McKendree] [Davenport]
TEAM STATISTICS: [McKendree] [Davenport]
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