Nicastro and Western Illinois host Eastern Illinois
Eastern Illinois Panthers (13-6, 10-0 OVC) at Western Illinois Leathernecks (10-9, 4-6 OVC)
Macomb, Illinois; Thursday, 6 p.m. EST
BOTTOM LINE: Western Illinois plays Eastern Illinois after Mia Nicastro scored 29 points in Western Illinois' 94-66 victory over the Southeast Missouri State Redhawks.
The Leathernecks are 5-4 in home games. Western Illinois is seventh in the OVC in rebounding with 31.4 rebounds. Raegan McCowan leads the Leathernecks with 7.8 boards.
The Panthers are 10-0 against OVC opponents. Eastern Illinois averages 63.0 points while outscoring opponents by 1.4 points per game.
Western Illinois makes 42.9% of its shots from the field this season, which is 2.9 percentage points higher than Eastern Illinois has allowed to its opponents (40.0%). Eastern Illinois averages 63.0 points per game, 2.3 fewer than the 65.3 Western Illinois gives up to opponents.
The matchup Thursday is the first meeting this season for the two teams in conference play.
TOP PERFORMERS: McCowan is shooting 48.1% and averaging 21.3 points for the Leathernecks. Allie Meadows is averaging 1.3 made 3-pointers over the last 10 games.
Kiyley Flowers is averaging 5.6 points, 4.5 assists and 3.1 steals for the Panthers. Macy McGlone is averaging 19.0 points and 13.5 rebounds while shooting 53.6% over the last 10 games.
LAST 10 GAMES: Leathernecks: 5-5, averaging 74.3 points, 30.1 rebounds, 12.5 assists, 4.6 steals and 2.9 blocks per game while shooting 44.5% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 64.5 points per game.
Panthers: 10-0, averaging 68.6 points, 36.0 rebounds, 16.2 assists, 9.7 steals and 4.0 blocks per game while shooting 46.4% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 52.9 points.
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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.