EVANSVILLE, Ind.—The University of Southern Indiana women's basketball team has the GLVC Tournament in its sights when its wraps up the regular season with games against Rockhurst University Thursday at 5:30 p.m. in Kansas City, Missouri, and Drury University Saturday at 2 p.m. in Springfield, Missouri.
USI (15-10, 9-8 GLVC) is coming off a 75-68 victory over Quincy University this past Saturday and enters this weekend's competition in possession of the third seed in the GLVC West Division.
The Screaming Eagles can clinch a spot in the GLVC Tournament with a victory and a win by Bellarmine University or loss by the University of Indianapolis. They can clinch the third seed in the GLVC Tournament with a pair of victories or a win, coupled with a loss by the University of Missouri-Rolla at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville and a Quincy University loss to the University of Missouri-St. Louis.
USI is attempting to complete a season-sweep of Rockhurst and Drury after posting a 90-61 win over Rockhurst and a 73-63 victory over Drury at the Physical Activities Center in January.
The Eagles lead the all-time series with Rockhurst, 4-0, and are 3-0 against the Hawks since Rockhurst joined the GLVC a year ago.
Senior guard
Katie Thiesenhusen (Muskego, Wisconsin) leads the Eagles with 14.3 points and 2.6 assists per game, while junior forward
Jasmine Baines (Jeffersonville, Indiana) is adding 12.3 points and a team-best 5.5 rebounds per contest. Senior forward
Sabrina Brandon (Danville, Illinois) is chipping in 12.2 points and 4.8 rebounds per outing.
Thiesenhusen had a career-high 30 points in USI's victory over Rockhurst, while junior guard
Akiya Alexander (Evanston, Illinois) had a team-best 18 points in the Eagles' win over Drury.
Rockhurst (9-17, 3-15 GLVC), which is coming off a tough 69-64 setback to Drury Tuesday evening, is led by senior center Courtney Farmer and sophomore forward Julie Cook. Farmer is averaging a team-high 13.3 points per game to go with 5.6 rebounds per contest, while Cook is adding 10.7 points as well as a team-high 6.6 rebounds and 4.9 assists per outing.
Sophomore guard/forward Amy Hake is chipping in 11.0 points and 3.2 rebounds per contest.
Drury (19-7, 13-5 GLVC), which leads the all-time series with the Eagles, 2-1, needs a win over the Eagles Saturday to secure its second consecutive GLVC West Division crown.
Junior guard Molly Carter leads the Panthers with 15.7 points per game, while junior guard Becky Flippin and sophomore forward Lauren Gregory are chipping in 13.3 and 10.6 points per game, respectively.