Southeast Missouri State Redhawks (14-17, 10-12 OVC) vs. Western Illinois Leathernecks (24-5, 16-4 OVC)
Evansville, Indiana; Friday, 2 p.m. EST
BOTTOM LINE: Western Illinois plays in the OVC Tournament against Southeast Missouri State.
The Leathernecks have gone 16-4 against OVC opponents, with an 8-1 record in non-conference play. Western Illinois is 20-3 in games decided by at least 10 points.
The Redhawks are 10-12 in OVC play. Southeast Missouri State is 8-13 against opponents with a winning record.
Western Illinois makes 46.1% of its shots from the field this season, which is 6.2 percentage points higher than Southeast Missouri State has allowed to its opponents (39.9%). Southeast Missouri State has shot at a 42.3% rate from the field this season, 5.0 percentage points above the 37.3% shooting opponents of Western Illinois have averaged.
The teams meet for the third time this season. The Leathernecks won 69-55 in the last matchup on Jan. 29. Mia Nicastro led the Leathernecks with 27 points, and Lexi McCully led the Redhawks with 11 points.
TOP PERFORMERS: Nicastro is scoring 24.5 points per game and averaging 9.7 rebounds for the Leathernecks. Addi Brownfield is averaging 12.9 points and 6.0 rebounds over the last 10 games.
Carmen Taylor is shooting 36.9% and averaging 12.6 points for the Redhawks. Da’Kariya Jackson is averaging 1.5 made 3-pointers over the last 10 games.
LAST 10 GAMES: Leathernecks: 8-2, averaging 73.7 points, 31.5 rebounds, 12.3 assists, 7.7 steals and 3.0 blocks per game while shooting 48.1% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 57.4 points per game.
Redhawks: 6-4, averaging 67.5 points, 31.7 rebounds, 12.5 assists, 8.3 steals and 3.6 blocks per game while shooting 44.7% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 65.5 points.
___
The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.