When the University of Southern Indiana women's basketball team takes the floor Saturday evening, it will be looking for two things stop their current losing streak and extend its win streak over Kentucky Wesleyan College to 18 games. The Screaming Eagles have lost five straight games and are in desperate need of a win.

USI enters Saturday's contest with a 6-14 mark, 4-9 in the Great Lakes Valley Conference. More importantly, the Eagles are eighth in the GLVC, a game ahead of Lewis University and the University of Missouri-St. Louis.

With a trip to GLVC front-running Northern Kentucky University and the University of Indianapolis coming up, the Eagles must take advantage of a Kentucky Wesleyan squad that sits in the bottom of the GLVC standing with a 2-10 conference mark and a 5-14 overall record.

As of late, USI's offensive has been led by senior guard/forward Sarah McIntosh (Cabery, Illinois). McIntosh scored a game-high 19 points in USI's latest setback, an 80-72 loss to Quincy University. She hit 5-of-9 shots from the floor, 2-of-3 from behind the arc, en route to a 12-point performance in USI's first meeting with the Panthers back in November.

The Eagles want to get senior forward/center Africa Sherrod (Ft. Lauderdale, Florida) back on track. Despite averaging 11.0 points and 7.5 rebounds per game last weekend, Sherrod was held in check as the Eagles fell to SIU Edwardsville and Quincy.

Sherrod, who recorded a game-high 14 points and 12 rebounds in USI's first meeting with KWC, will need to be a force underneath for the Eagles. She leads the Eagles with 16.8 points and a conference-high 10.8 rebounds per game.

Along with Sherrod, sophomore forward/center Megan Nelson (Clarendon Hills, Illinois) helped the Eagles take a 34-26 scoring advantage in the paint against KWC earlier in the season. Nelson scored 13 points against the Panthers back in November.

Handling the ball also is a major factor for USI. The Eagles committed 17 first half turnovers against the Panthers in their first meeting as they went into the break clinging to a five-point advantage. USI committed just nine turnovers in the second stanza en route to the 67-51 win.

One thing the Eagles will benefit from is the improved play of junior guard/forward Shannon Wells (Merrillville, Indiana). Wells has become a scoring and rebounding force for USI since joining the starting lineup in late December.

Wells is averaging 9.3 points, 6.5 rebounds, 3.1 assists, and 2.0 steals per game as a starter. She scored just two points against KWC, which was the first collegiate basketball game Wells has played in.

Senior guard Bethany Miller (Princeton, Indiana) and sophomore guard Amber Calhoun (Evansville, Indiana) will be counted on to protect and distribute the ball. Miller leads the team with 4.3 assists per game while Calhoun is coming off a career-high five assist performance against Quincy.

Leading KWC is senior forward Leslie Warren and freshman guard Holly Mills. Warren is averaging a team-high 11.8 points per game while Mills is close behind with 11.6 points per contest. Sophomore forward Andrea Clarke is adding 9.9 points and a team-high 5.8 rebounds per outing.

Tip-off for Saturday's contest is slated for 5:15 p.m. at the Physical Activities Center.