Marshall University Athletics
Herd Women Bring 10-Game Win Streak to Western Michigan
2/15/2005 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Herd Women Bring 10-Game Win Streak to Western Michigan
2/15/2005
Center Modupe Ishola scored 13 points (6-of-9) with eight rebounds last season versus Western Michigan. Photo by Matt Riley |
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. -- In search of its 11th consecutive win, Marshall will take its Mid-American Conference East Division title hopes to Kalamazoo, Mich., for a matchup with the Broncos of Western Michigan on Wednesday at University Arena. Tip-off is at 7 p.m.
Marshall (15-7, 9-2 MAC) is in the midst of its best season ever as a MAC member, currently riding a school-best nine-game league win streak after beginning the conference schedule 0-2. The Thundering Herd?s nine-game run in MAC play is the longest since Miami (Ohio) won 12 straight last season. Thanks to Marshall?s 76-63 win over the RedHawks on Feb. 5, Western Michigan is the MAC team that owns the longest current winning streak against the Herd - three games - and is the only club that head coach Royce Chadwick has not defeated (0-3).
Sikeetha Shepard-Hall (Houston, Texas), a MAC Player of the Year candidate, remains Marshall?s leading scorer with 14.9 points per game (17.4 in MAC games) to go along with 3.9 rebounds, 2.9 assists and 1.6 steals per contest. As Marshall?s lone player to have started two career games versus the Broncos, the junior guard averages 14.0 points, 4.0 rebounds, 2.0 assists and shoots 45.8 percent (4-of-8 from 3-point range) against WMU.
Should Marshall upend the Broncos, the win would put head coach Royce Chadwick at the .500 mark for his Thundering Herd career. He currently stands at 54-55 in his fourth season at MU. A WMU loss drops Bronco head coach Ron Stewart to .500 (116-115) in his eighth season in Kalamazoo.
WMU?s Kelly Koerber and Carrie Moore are the second and third most prolific scorers in MAC play this season, posting 19 points per game apiece for the Broncos (8-15, 5-7 MAC). Moore, an all-MAC West Preseason pick, also pulls down 8.6 rebounds per game and shoots 44.1 percent from the floor in league contests. Koerber rips the nets 54.4 percent of the time she shoots the ball and grabs 6.3 boards per game.
Western Michigan is without the services of their two all-MAC performers in Player of the Year Casey Rost and honorable mention Maria Jillian. Rost missed the season?s final eight games of 2003-04 with a torn ACL and attempted a comeback this season that was cut short after only two games. Jilian, the MAC?s active steals and assists leader, was injured after six games this season. The senior guards have taken medical redshirts this season and are expected back in 2005-06.
The game pits the MAC?s highest scoring team (Marshall-73.9 points per game) against the league?s worst scoring defense (W. Michigan-74.3). The teams rank second and third in field goal percentage (MU-44.5, WMU-44.4).
Marshall is 4-0 versus teams playing out of the MAC West Division and has defeated each team (NIU, CMU, TOL & BSU) by double-digits (avg. 15.3 per win).
Marshall and Western Michigan will meet for the 26th time in a series that dates back to the early 1970s. Despite geographic distance, the Broncos and Lady Herd met 15 times before 1980 to develop a rivalry that the Broncos lead, holding a 17-8 series edge. The Herd has left Kalamazoo victorious on only three occasions, the last such time coming on Feb. 5, 1998, its first matchup with WMU as MAC counterparts, a 74-72 MU win.
Wednesday?s game will be broadcast live on Marshall?s student station, WMUL 88.1-FM, which will also utilize a web broadcast at www.marshall.edu/wmul.
