University of Southern Indiana Women’s Basketball enters its final regular-season game with its eyes on securing a first-round home game in the Great Lakes Valley Conference Tournament.
The Screaming Eagles (14-11, 7-10 GLVC) can secure the No. 7 seed in the GLVC Tournament with a victory over No. 25 Bellarmine University Thursday evening at the Physical Activities Center. Tip-off is slated for 5:15 p.m.
USI, which brings a four-game winning streak into its bout with the rival Knights, also can clinch a first-round home game with a few other combinations that would involve getting help from other teams.
Thursday’s game is a rematch of USI’s 65-61 setback to the Knights last month in Louisville, Kentucky. The Eagles rallied from a 21-point second-half deficit to get to within four points on several different occasions, but that was as close as USI would get as the Knights ended a three-game losing streak to the Eagles.
Sophomore guard/forward Kaydie Grooms (Marshall, Illinois) had 16 points, seven rebounds, and four assists to lead the Eagles, while junior forward Hannah Wascher (Rantoul, Illinois) added 14 points and seven rebounds in the loss.
On the year, Wascher leads the Eagles with 13.3 points and 7.9 rebounds per contest, while junior guard Tanner Marcum (New Albany, Indiana) is contributing 12.2 points and 3.3 assists per appearance. Grooms is chipping in 11.5 points and 5.2 rebounds per outing, while sophomore guard Randa Harshbarger (Philo, Illinois) is averaging 5.4 points and a team-best 5.2 assists per game.
Bellarmine (20-3, 14-3 GLVC), which has won four straight games, is led by junior forward Sarah Galvin and junior guard Destony Curry. Galvin is averaging a team-best 17.5 points and 7.9 rebounds per contest, while Curry is chipping in 9.5 points and 2.2 assists per game. Senior guard Mackenzie Martinez is averaging a team-best 4.0 assists per game.
Junior guard Whitney Hartlage led Bellarmine with 16 points in its win over USI in January, while Galvin added 12 points and a team-high eight rebounds. Freshman center Ally Mayhaus and sophomore guard Raven Merriweather added 12 and 11 points, respectively, for the Knights, who improved to 44-23 all-time versus the Eagles.
This is the eighth time that USI Head Coach Rick Stein will square off against his former boss and mentor Chancellor Dugan, who is in her fourth year at the helm of the Knights. Stein leads the series between the two, 4-3. Dugan, who is in the USI Athletics Hall of Fame, won 159 games at USI from 1991-99 and led the Eagles to the 1997 NCAA II Championship game.
Thursday’s game can be heard on WPSR 90.7 FM, while GLVC Sports Network coverage, along with live stats and audio, can be accessed at GoUSIEagles.com.
GLVC Tournament first-round games will take place Sunday at campus sites, while the GLVC Tournament quarterfinals are March 3 in St. Charles, Missouri.
