LEBANON, Ill. - The women's basketball team will round out their regular season play with a pair of home contests as they welcome Rockhurst University on Thursday, February 27th, and then host Southwest Baptist University for senior day on Saturday, March 1st with both games happening at the Harry M. Statham Sports Center in Lebanon, Illinois.
HISTORY SHOWCASE
Against Rockhurst, this will be the 15th all-time meeting between the two programs, dating back to 2014. McKendree won the last two outings, including the most recent earlier this season in Kansas City, winning 66-61 as it was their smallest margin of victory within. The Hawks hold an 8-6 lead in the overall series.
A couple of days later, against Southwest Baptist, it will be just the 11th meeting between the two. The two teams have split the last six games in a seesaw affair. SBU won earlier this season, 75-65 on their home floor, and has a current 6-4 lead in the series history.
BEARCATS CURRENTLY
McKendree hit a rough patch last week as they were competitive but went 0-2 on the road. They are still in reach of snagging the final GLVC Tournament bid, pending how they fare down this final stretch. The Bearcats currently sit at 13-11 overall and 9-9 in conference play.
At Quincy University, the team had a slow start to the game, being down 8-23 at the end of the first quarter. The pace would pick up a little in the second period of play, but would still be down by 19 at the half. McKendree crept their way into the deficit little by little but eventually fell to the Hawks, 76-88. Sophomore forward Baylie Parks (Lake Zurich, Ill.) finished with a game-high 24 points on 8-18 shooting including going 7-8 from the line as she collected 17 rebounds, four assists, three steals, and two blocked shots. Junior guard Chloe White (Brussels, Ill.) had 11 points for McKendree while pulling down six rebounds plus an assist and a block. Junior guard Georgia Duncan (Washington, Ill.) rounded out the double-figure scoring with 10 points as she went 3-4 from the floor and 2-2 from three and snatched a pair of steals.
On Saturday at Upper Iowa University, the opposition still started the game strong, but with under five minutes until halftime, the Bearcats went blazing for 15 straight points behind two three-pointers from sophomore guard Emma Slings (Polk City, Iowa) and one from White to post a 34-33 lead at the half. Going into the second half, McKendree extended their lead to 10, upping their run to 28-3. The Peacocks responded with a 12-4 run to pull within three. Both teams battled in the final quarter of regulation, with the Bearcats attacking the painted area and Upper Iowa going on another run, this time going 8-0. Within the final moments of play, senior guard Maci Meyer (Hubertus, Wis.) nailed a three-point jumper off an offensive rebound to tie the game at 66 a-piece. However, with a little over two seconds remaining, the Peacocks got the ball inbounded on their end of the court as they sunk in the mid-range shot at the buzzer to win 68-66. Parks led all scorers with 19 points, including 15 in the second half, as she went 2-4 from three-point range and a perfect 3-3 from the line. She also had 10 rebounds, three assists, two steals, and a blocked shot. White scored her third straight double-figure game with 14 points, along with four rebounds and an assist. Slings dropped in 13 points on 4-9 shooting as she went 3-4 from deep, plus four rebounds and a team-high five assists.
Parks remains a perfect 24-for-24 in double-digit scoring outputs with 11+ points in all games this season and has grabbed 6+ rebounds in all as many contests. Her 18.7 points per game leads the team and is good for first in the entire GLVC (18th in the nation) as her field goal percentage of 50.8% (50th in the nation) places second in the conference, while her 12 double-doubles are a GLVC-best (20th in the nation). The sophomore's rebounding numbers are all top-three in the conference and include total rebounds per game (1st – 10.2), total rebounds (1st – 245), defensive rebounds per game (2nd – 7.2), and offensive rebounds per game (3rd – 3.0).
Slings remains one of the conference's top facilitators, averaging a sixth-best assists per game in the GLVC at 3.3, and posting an assist-to-turnover ratio of 1.10. She tallied 2+ assists in eight of her last nine outings.
As a team, their 76.1% free throw percentage is first in the entire conference and is 32nd in the nation. They also are placed in the top-four in the GLVC in field goal percentage (2nd – 44.6%), free throws made per game (3rd – 14.9), and scoring offense (3rd – 73.0 ppg).
SCOUTING THE OPPOSITION
Rockhurst University | Thursday, February 27th, 5:30 PM CT
Last Matchup: W, 66-61 on 12/2/2024 | RECAP | BOX SCORE
Rockhurst has hit a nice spurt within the past few weeks, winning their last three outings and four of their last five. They sit at 9-15 overall with a 7-11 mark in GLVC play.
Graduate forward Keegan Sullivan is the Hawks' only double-figure scorer at 15.7 points per game as she is second behind Parks in double-doubles within the conference at nine. Her scoring ranks eighth in the GLVC along with her 35.5 field goal percentage.
The Rockhurst team posts a GLVC-best 4.3 blocks per game, which also ranks 24th in the country. The Hawks rank in the top-five in the conference in offensive rebounds per game (3rd – 12.5), free throw attempts per game (4th – 20.7), free throws made per game (4th – 14.8), three-point attempts per game (4th – 23.5), and three-point makes per game (4th – 7.3).
Southwest Baptist University | Saturday, March 1st, 1:00 PM CT
Last Matchup: L, 65-75 on 1/18/2025 | RECAP | BOX SCORE
SBU has hit a cold spell over the past month of play. They have lost four straight and eight of their last nine outings with their lone win in the bunch coming at William Jewell College on February 6th. The Bearcats now sit at 8-16 overall and 6-12 in GLVC action. The Bearcats will take on Maryville University this coming Thursday before facing McKendree.
Graduate guard Amber Storr and senior center Tori Hamilton lead the Bearcats in scoring with 12.7 and 11.1 points a contest respectively. Hamilton is a huge presence inside, grabbing 7.3 rebounds a game, which is good for ninth in the GLVC, as her 3.1 offensive rebounds are second. She also has the third-best blocking average in the conference, swatting 1.7 a game.
SBU as a whole ranks in the top-three in the GLVC in free throw attempts per game (1st – 22.8), offensive rebounds per game (1st – 14.4), bench points per game (2nd – 25.2), steals per game (2nd – 9.5), turnover margin (1.9), and turnovers forced per game (2nd – 17.8).
TUNE IN-FO
vs Rockhurst University
WATCH: Click HERE ($ – GLVC Sports Network)
LIVE STATS: Click HERE
HISTORY: Click HERE
TEAM ROSTERS: [McKendree] [Rockhurst]
TEAM SCHEDULES: [McKendree] [Rockhurst]
TEAM STATISTICS: [McKendree] [Rockhurst]
vs Southwest Baptist University
WATCH: Click HERE ($ – GLVC Sports Network)
LIVE STATS: Click HERE
HISTORY: Click HERE
TEAM ROSTERS: [McKendree] [Southwest Baptist]
TEAM SCHEDULES: [McKendree] [Southwest Baptist]
TEAM STATISTICS: [McKendree] [Southwest Baptist]
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