Saunders and Southern Indiana host Eastern Illinois

Eastern Illinois Panthers (3-16, 2-6 OVC) at Southern Indiana Screaming Eagles (13-4, 7-1 OVC)

Evansville, Indiana; Thursday, 6 p.m. EST

BOTTOM LINE: Southern Indiana faces Eastern Illinois after Ali Saunders scored 29 points in Southern Indiana’s 72-67 victory over the Tennessee State Lady Tigers.

The Screaming Eagles are 8-1 on their home court. Southern Indiana ranks eighth in the OVC with 11.9 assists per game led by Saunders averaging 4.2.

The Panthers are 2-6 in conference games. Eastern Illinois has a 1-1 record in games decided by less than 4 points.

Southern Indiana is shooting 40.9% from the field this season, 1.7 percentage points lower than the 42.6% Eastern Illinois allows to opponents. Eastern Illinois averages 6.0 made 3-pointers per game this season, 0.5 fewer makes per game than Southern Indiana allows.

The Screaming Eagles and Panthers meet Thursday for the first time in OVC play this season.

TOP PERFORMERS: Saunders is averaging 17.6 points, 4.2 assists and 2.2 steals for the Screaming Eagles. Sophia Loden is averaging 10.5 points and 7.7 rebounds while shooting 36.2% over the last 10 games.

Charita Lewis is shooting 27.8% from beyond the arc with 1.2 made 3-pointers per game for the Panthers, while averaging 8.2 points. Ava Stoller is shooting 37.1% and averaging 12.2 points over the past 10 games.

LAST 10 GAMES: Screaming Eagles: 8-2, averaging 66.2 points, 35.6 rebounds, 10.4 assists, 9.4 steals and 2.8 blocks per game while shooting 38.2% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 60.2 points per game.

Panthers: 2-8, averaging 58.7 points, 29.9 rebounds, 11.5 assists, 8.4 steals and 3.7 blocks per game while shooting 35.8% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 67.9 points.

___

The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.