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 // 2018 week two]
All but one day this week is filled with
GLVC women's basketball action. But, as it doesn't play a league opponent until Saturday, Drury opened the week Wednesday morning against non-conference foe Lane for the Hiland Dairy Kids Day and grabbed a big 93-63 win. Thursday and Saturday brings back Conference action with all 14 games streaming live and free on every GLVCSN platform. On Thursday, Rockhurst and William Jewell will meet again just a week after Jewell picked up a 64-61 road win at Rockhurst. Truman travels to Missouri S&T first and also looks to repeat its 77-50 win from a week ago in Kirksville, but it will follow that contest by swinging over to No. 8 Drury in what is likely to be its toughest challenge this season. Truman and Bellarmine are the only two teams on the road both days, as the Knights look to recover from its 63-60 loss at Jewell with a visit to the top East Division team in Lewis on Thursday before facing another divisional foe in UW-Parkside Saturday. Southern Indiana will look to use its game against Indianapolis on Thursday to bounce back after a loss to Drury, which was a match-up between the only two league teams ranked in the top-25 poll. Elsewhere, Illinois Springfield and McKendree also play two games this week but will split them home and away, with both playing Missouri-St. Louis.
[2 // glvc point rating system]
In case you missed it, the GLVC has adopted new qualifying procedures for its annual men’s and women’s basketball tournaments, it was formally released last Thursday. The
GLVC Point Rating System will be used to determine the top-eight men’s and women’s teams that will advance to the 2018 GLVC Basketball Championship Tournaments, which will be held March 1-4, at the Vadalabene Center on the campus of Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. In past years, the winner of the East and West Divisions secured the top-two seeds in the 12-team tournament, which was made up of four teams from each division along with four wildcards. This year’s event will feature an eight-team format with no automatic qualifying bids to divisional champions, nor is there a number of tournament bids allocated for each of the three five-team divisions.
[3 // drury, usi ranked in wbca poll]
Drury and Southern Indiana remain ranked in the latest Women's Basketball Coaches' Association (WBCA)
NCAA Division II Poll, it was announced Wednesday (Jan. 9). No. 8 Drury (12-1) played just one game last week, defeating then-No. 20 Southern Indiana 71-55, and remained in the same position for a third week in a row. Southern Indiana (11-2) went 1-1 a week ago, falling to Drury on the road and defeating Missouri-St. Louis at home, 70-65, but fell two places from No. 20 to No. 22.
[4 // glvc & usbwa weekly honor]
Lewis’ Jessica Kelliher repeated Monday as the
GLVC Player of the Week for her fourth honor this season and 10th of her career after averaging a double-double of 28 points and 10 rebounds, shooting 77% in two league wins. On Wednesday, she earned her first career U.S. Basketball Writers Association (USBWA)
National Player of the Week accolade.
[5 // best in the nation]
The only GLVC team to lead the country in a statistical category is Illinois Springfield with 7.1 blocked shots per game, according to the most recent statistical report published by the NCAA. While the exact number has fluctuated, the top spot in the category is a mark the Prairie Stars have boasted since the second report of the season issued on Nov. 13, 2017. UW-Parkside and Truman State are the only other teams in the top five, as Parkside is second in three-point field goals attempted (478) and fifth with 146 made. Truman has given the ball away 138 times, which ranks as the third fewest turnovers in the country. Individually, Lewis junior Jessica Kelliher moved back into the country’s top spot for points per game with 25.3 and held onto the top spot for field goals made with 152. Indianapolis senior Martha Burse is tops for both field goal attempts (304) and steals (63), while she comes in second with 4.20 steals per game. The other top shooter from the league is Quincy junior Jessie Rabas, who again leads Division II with her 52.3% clip from behind the three-point arc.