Western Illinois Leathernecks (23-4, 15-3 OVC) at SIU-Edwardsville Cougars (13-14, 7-11 OVC)

Edwardsville, Illinois; Thursday, 6 p.m. EST

BOTTOM LINE: SIU-Edwardsville hosts Western Illinois after Kiyoko Proctor scored 24 points in SIU-Edwardsville’s 67-52 win over the Tennessee State Lady Tigers.

The Cougars have gone 8-5 at home. SIU-Edwardsville ranks third in the OVC with 24.1 defensive rebounds per game led by Syanne Mohamed averaging 6.3.

The Leathernecks have gone 15-3 against OVC opponents. Western Illinois scores 77.0 points while outscoring opponents by 17.0 points per game.

SIU-Edwardsville is shooting 39.4% from the field this season, 1.9 percentage points higher than the 37.5% Western Illinois allows to opponents. Western Illinois has shot at a 46.3% clip from the field this season, 7.2 percentage points greater than the 39.1% shooting opponents of SIU-Edwardsville have averaged.

The teams square off for the second time this season in OVC play. Western Illinois won the last matchup 75-51 on Dec. 22. Mia Nicastro scored 19 points to help lead the Leathernecks to the victory.

TOP PERFORMERS: Proctor is scoring 13.4 points per game with 2.5 rebounds and 2.6 assists for the Cougars. Lauren Miller is averaging 12.9 points over the last 10 games.

Nicastro is scoring 24.0 points per game and averaging 9.7 rebounds for the Leathernecks. Addi Brownfield is averaging 13.8 points and 6.2 rebounds over the last 10 games.

LAST 10 GAMES: Cougars: 6-4, averaging 64.3 points, 35.0 rebounds, 12.1 assists, 5.1 steals and 2.2 blocks per game while shooting 41.3% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 61.4 points per game.

Leathernecks: 8-2, averaging 73.4 points, 31.0 rebounds, 12.9 assists, 7.1 steals and 3.2 blocks per game while shooting 48.8% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 58.8 points.

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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.