Western Illinois Leathernecks (10-2, 2-1 OVC) at Southeast Missouri State Redhawks (5-7, 1-2 OVC)
Cape Girardeau, Missouri; Saturday, 2:30 p.m. EST
BOTTOM LINE: Western Illinois visits Southeast Missouri State after Mia Nicastro scored 25 points in Western Illinois’ 86-78 loss to the UT Martin Skyhawks.
The Redhawks are 4-1 on their home court. Southeast Missouri State is seventh in the OVC with 9.5 offensive rebounds per game led by Ainaya Williams averaging 2.0.
The Leathernecks are 2-1 against OVC opponents. Western Illinois is the OVC leader with 25.6 defensive rebounds per game led by Nicastro averaging 8.0.
Southeast Missouri State is shooting 41.1% from the field this season, 1.5 percentage points higher than the 39.6% Western Illinois allows to opponents. Western Illinois has shot at a 44.8% rate from the field this season, 5.9 percentage points higher than the 38.9% shooting opponents of Southeast Missouri State have averaged.
The Redhawks and Leathernecks meet Saturday for the first time in OVC play this season.
TOP PERFORMERS: Carmen Taylor averages 2.3 made 3-pointers per game for the Redhawks, scoring 12.7 points while shooting 32.9% from beyond the arc. Williams is shooting 47.8% and averaging 13.1 points over the last 10 games.
Nicastro is scoring 22.7 points per game and averaging 10.7 rebounds for the Leathernecks. Addi Brownfield is averaging 1.8 made 3-pointers over the last 10 games.
LAST 10 GAMES: Redhawks: 4-6, averaging 72.3 points, 33.2 rebounds, 15.1 assists, 8.8 steals and 3.9 blocks per game while shooting 41.8% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 67.4 points per game.
Leathernecks: 8-2, averaging 80.1 points, 36.3 rebounds, 12.5 assists, 8.6 steals and 3.7 blocks per game while shooting 43.6% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 64.7 points.
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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.