Bolivar, Mo. – After four out of five GLVC games on the road, the Bearcat women's basketball team is thrilled to be back in the comfort of their home gym this week. They'll continue conference play against the Lincoln Blue Tigers (Thursday) and Missouri St. Louis Tritons (Saturday).
 
Despite the many road conference games to start the season the Bearcats were able to pick up a conference victory while playing others to tight contests. Now they look to take what they learned on the road and apply it to their home court. The effort on the defensive end and ability to crash the offensive glass has been the best points for SBU this season. They are number one in the league in blocks per game with 4.3, which is .6 more than any other team in the conference. As well, they are second in the GLVC in offensive rebounds averaging 14.6 per game, with five different players having five or more blocks this season.
 
Thursday the team will battle the Blue Tigers for the second time this season at 5:30 p.m. In the first game, Lincoln came away with the victory 54-59. Since then, they went on to beat Lewis University for their second conference win of the season, already surpassing their win total from a year before. They are largely a three-point shooting team as they rank 11^th in the Nation in three-point attempts per game and 36^th in three pointers made per game.
 
Two days later SBU will host the Tritons of Missouri St. Louis at 1:00 p.m. Currently the Tritons are first in the GLVC with a perfect 6-0 conference record and 10-2 overall record. Their big strength has come on the defensive end as they are holding opponents to 54.1 points per game, best in the GLVC and 18^th in Division II. A big part to their success has been controlling the charity stripe leading the conference in fouls per game (13.0) and free throw percentage (80.1%).
 
Southwest Baptist will look to counteract these two teams with their rebounding and defensive prowess. With six different Bearcats averaging over eight points per game, continuing to rely on the versatility of their scoring will increase their chances of ending their home stand at 2-0.