The following "Starting Five" points offer a quick look inside GLVC women's basketball action this week:
GLVC SPORTS NETWORK (GLVCSN): All GLVC home games are available for free on GLVCSN.com, the GLVCSN iOS and Android mobile apps, and GLVCSN OTT apps on Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV, and Android TV.
[1 // thanksgiving tourneys]
Although all teams are idle on Thanksgiving Thursday, a number of teams are playing in
holiday tournaments this week, including a few league teams playing host. After everyone fills up on turkey and pie, we’ll get our fill of hoops, as Drury is hosting a Thanksgiving Classic where Missouri S&T will also play. Rockhurst will be traveling to play in the Missouri Western Classic, Truman is competing in another Thanksgiving Classic hosted by Washburn, and William Jewell will visit Metro State for another holiday tournament. All of those tourneys will be played Friday-Saturday, while Bellarmine will host a Saturday-Sunday Thanksgiving Classic that Southern Indiana will be attending, as well.
[2 // and then there were three]
After the first week of action, nine teams had begun the 2017-18 slate undefeated, but that number has dwindled to three after the
second week of the season. Missouri S&T and Southern Indiana have both improved to 4-0, while Bellarmine sits at 3-0 ahead of Week 3 action. In fact, both the Screaming Eagles and Knights have won all of their games against other Midwest Region foes, beating shared opponents in Northwood and Saginaw Valley State.
[3 // two teams repped in national poll]
Drury remains the only team ranked in the Top 25, but it fell from its No. 7 preseason spot to No. 11 in the first regular season poll after going 1-1 last week. Also making an appearance just outside the top group was Southern Indiana with eight points,
it was announced Tuesday.
[4 // weekly honoree ranks among glvc top-10]
Dahlstrom won the second GLVC women’s basketball
player of the week award for the 2017-18 campaign, for her second career honor, and also ranks among the 10 best players in the Conference in seven different categories. Her highest mark so far is in offensive rebounds, which tops the leaderboard with 17 total and 4.3 per game. Her 14 steals and 3.5 per game are second in the loop, while the senior’s 9.8 rebound average comes in third. Additionally, she ranks fifth in field-goal percentage (.620), seventh in defensive rebounds (5.5) and is tied for ninth in blocked shots per game (1.3).
[5 // ncaa leaders]
Illinois Springfield leads NCAA Division II teams with its 8.8 blocks per game clip, having grabbed 35 total (third in NCAA) in their four games this young season. The Prairie Stars have been helped tremendously in accomplishing those ranks thanks to Destiny Ramsey, who is fifth nationally with her individual average of 3.75 per game. Lewis’ Jessica Kelliher is ahead of all other players in the division with her 27.5 points per game average, while Truman State’s Rachel Edmundson (8-8) and Katie Jaseeckas (9-9) are tied for the national lead with their 100.0 free-throw percentage.