Game Notes

Date: January 6, 2022
Time: 5:30 PM
Location: Quincy, IL

Quincy, Ill. - Southwest Baptist hits the road for their first road trip of the new year. Thursday evening, the Bearcats will face off with the Quincy Hawks in Quincy, IL.

SCOUTING THE BEARCATS
In their first year as full-time members of the Great Lakes Valley Conference, the SBU Women's Basketball team finished 15-13 (9-11 GLVC) on the year. The GLVC allows just 8 teams to make the conference tournament. Finishing 10th out of 16 teams in the GLVC, the Bearcats narrowly missed the conference tournament for the second straight year.

The 2020-21 season was a shortened, conference opponent only season due to COVID-19. In that shortened season, SBU finished with a 5-14 record. Their strongest portion of the season came in January, as the team won 4 contests, 3 of those in a row. Arguably their best win came on the road against Maryville, defeating the Saints 100-97 in double overtime. Returning for an extra year of eligibility is All-GLVC selection, Kyleigh Vaught. She started 18 games last year, leading the team with 564 minutes played, scoring 261 points which averages to 14.5 per game (20th in GLVC). From the free throw line, Vaught shot 66-75 (88.0%) which led the conference. Vaught also led the team in three's made (27), assists (41), and steals (26). Eight other Bearcats return from the 2020-21 roster, including Brylee Graddy, Rachel Tippens, Nyah Pettus, Mary Rose Foster, Gabriella Capasso, Natalie Basham, Bella Irlenborn, and Alyssa Williams.

The Bearcats winning streak came to an end Tuesday with a 77-60 loss to #1 ranked Drury. Despite falling behind big early, the team fought back to an 8-point deficit late in the third. In their other three conference contests, SBU handled William Jewell with ease, fell to Rockhurst on the road, and beat Missouri S&T by 18 points. Since that stretch, the team has defeated three non-conference teams in Baptist Bible College, Missouri Baptist University, and Hannibal-LaGrange by 30+ points each. Kyleigh Vaught continues to lead the team in scoring, totaling 149 points (12.4 ppg) this year. In addition, she has 38 assists, 39 rebounds, and 15 steals. Mary Rose Foster and Nyah Pettus have both been very solid at the forward spots. Pettus leads the team with 74 rebounds and 11 blocks. Foster is shooting 58.8% with 52 rebounds. Emma Perry has been impressive from three, making 31 three's this year.

SCOUTING THE HAWKS
The Quincy Hawks have a 4-7 (0-3 GLVC) record this year, going back and forth with wins and losses. In their most recent contest, Quincy fell to Truman State 59-68. They were scheduled to take on Maryville just before that, but that game was canceled. Against Lindenwood, the Hawks fell by 9 on the road, and they fell by 14 to UMSL at home. Both SBU and Quincy have played Hannibal-LaGrange this year, Quincy defeating the Trojans 84-49. Beth Matas Martin leads the team with 10.4 ppg, but Sarah Nelson has scored the most points and is the only Hawk with 100+ points. Emma Knipe leads the team with 58 rebounds and has 17 assists and 15 steals to go along with that.

THE COACHES
SBU head coach Kelsey Keizer begins her eighth season on the SBU bench after compiling a 86-104 (49-88 conf.) record while at SBU. Coach Keizer led the Bearcats to back-to-back-to-back winning seasons (2015-16, 2016-17, and 2017-18) for the first time since the 2000-01, 2001-02, and 2002-03 seasons. Since joining the GLVC in 2019, Keizer has had three AllGLVC selections.

Kaci Bailey enters her first year as the head coach of the Hawks. She received her undergraduate degree from Southern Illinois University where she was a member of the conference championship team in 2007 and an AllConference Scholar Athlete. Prior to Quincy, Bailey served as an assistant at George Mason from 2017-20.

ALL-TIME SERIES
SBU leads the all-time series 8-3. Since joining the GLVC in 2019, the Bearcats have defeated the Hawks in both contests.