Complete Game Notes
Game #4: MacMurray (1-3) at Lincoln (0-3)
Date: Wednesday, Nov. 20, 2019
Time: 6:00 p.m. CST
Site: Jefferson City, Mo.
Live Stats: https://lubluetigers.com/sidearmstats/wbball/
Live Video: http://www.themiaanetwork.com/

Game #5: Lincoln at William Jewell (2-2)
Date: Sunday, Nov. 24, 2019
Time: 1:00 p.m. CST
Site: Liberty, Mo.
Live Stats: https://jewellcardinals.com/sidearmstats/wbball/
Live Video: https://www.glvcsn.com/jewell/

THE TIP OFF:  Two more non-conference games await the Blue Tigers this week, starting on Wednesday (Nov. 20) when the Lincoln women's basketball team welcomes McMurray for a 6:00 p.m. CST contest. The Blue Tigers then travel to Liberty, Mo. on Sunday (Nov. 24) to take on Willaim Jewell at 1:00 p.m. CST. Lincoln will try to get in the win column for the first time in 2019-20 after an exciting home match-up against St. Louis-Pharmacy on Saturday (Nov. 16) ended with the Blue Tigers falling by one point, 69-68. MacMurray, an NCAA Division III program making its first trip to Jason Gym, heads into a Tuesday night home game with a 1-3 overall record. The Cardinals, meanwhile, are 2-2 on the season.

FAST BREAKS
- Lincoln and MacMurray will play for the first time ever on Wednesday night.

- The Blue Tigers will play William Jewell for the third time on Sunday afternoon.

- William Jewell has won each of the previous two times it has faced the Blue Tigers, including last season, when WJC handed LU its only non-conference loss, a 76-70 defeat in Jason Gym.

- Sunday will be Lincoln's first trip to Liberty, Mo. since the 2013-14 season, when the Cardinals won the first-ever meeting between the teams, 86-70.

PREVIEWING THE BLUE TIGERS:  Kaloni Pryear is leading the Blue Tigers with 14.7 points per game, followed by Vivian Chigbu, who averages a double with 12.0 points and 13.3 rebounds. Alecia Gulledge is also in double figures with 10.0 points per contest, and Kiara Shoulders averages 6.7 boards to go with a team-high eight assists.

HEAD COACH AYANA McWILLIAMS:  A five-year veteran of the Division I ranks, McWilliams is in her fourth year as the head coach at Lincoln. Last season, McWilliams led the Blue Tigers to a 7-0 start, the best in program history. McWilliams previously worked as an assistant at South Carolina Upstate, a Division I program, and also was an assistant at Elizabeth City.

LAST TIME OUT:  Vivian Chigbu led all players with 26 points and 15 rebounds, but St. Louis-Pharmacy rallied in the game's final minutes to top the Blue Tigers, 69-68, on Saturday afternoon (Nov. 4). Kaloni Pryear and Alecia Gulledge each scored 10 points and Kiara Shoulders dished seven assists, but Lincoln shot .371 from the floor and .526 at the free throw line to fall in its 2019-20 home opener.

SCOUTING THE HIGHLANDERS:  MacMurray has five players averaging at least eight points per game, led by Alexis Doyle with 10. 3. Doyle also leads the Highlanders with 2.3 assists per night while Abby Stotler, who averages 9.5 points, is the team's top rebounder (7.3 rpg.) Savannah Moore is also averaging 9.5 points, and Alaina Vance is next with 8.7 while Libbie Kussmann averages 8.0. Leah Turner leads the team with 11 steals.

MC HEAD COACH CHAD HARMON:  Harmon is in his second year as the head coach at MacMurray and owns a 5-25 record in that span, including a 1-3 mark through the first four games of 2019-20. Harmon, a 2009 graduate of Division I Evansville, spent four years on the coaching staff at his alma mater and also was an assistant at Lincoln College, helping the program win two NJCAA DII titles.

SCOUTING THE CARDINALS:  William Jewell has 39 steals entering the week, including seven each by Kiara Bradley, Sydney Offield, Rhyann Fisher and Ainsley Tolson. Bradley leads WJC with 13.0 points per contest, and Offield averages 9.8 while Rachel Schon is tallying 7.5 points and a team-high 7.5 rebounds. As a team, the Cardinals have turned the ball over 81 times while dishing just 32 assists.

WJC HEAD COACH JILL SLOMINSKI:  WJC has won more than 400 games and made seven trips to the national tournament during the 24-year tenure of Slominski. In nine of those seasons the Cardinals won at least 20 games, and WJC has qualified for the GLVC tournament in six of the past eight years. In 2004-05, Slominski set a new program record by leading WJC to 28 victories.

ON THE REBOUND:  The Blue Tigers have established themselves as one of the MIAA's best rebounding teams, as Lincoln leads the league in total rebounds per game (44.7) and in offensive boards per night (16.0). Lincoln is rising up the ranks in the national levels as well, as the Blue Tigers are currently 34th in NCAA Division II in offensive rebounding & 42nd in boards per game.

GOOD ON THE GLASS:  Vivian Chigbu reached double figures in rebounding in each of the first three games and currently leads the team, leads the MIAA and rates 10th in the country in total rebounds per game with 13.3. Chigbu's total of 40 rebounds is the 31st-most in Division II, and her 15 offensive boards rank 15th.

SHOULDERING THE DEFENSE:  In addition to Vivian Chigbu, Lincoln has another player who is off to a hot start rebounding in Kiara Shoulders, who averaged 6.7 boards during the first three games of the season. Shoulders, who also leads the team with eight assists while averaging 8.0 points, is currently seventh in the conference in defensive rebounding with 5.3 per night as well as 13th in total rebounding.

STAYING HOME:  There are 13 home games on Lincoln's 2019-20 schedule, with all four of LU's games in the month of December being played in Jason Gym. Exactly half of Lincoln's eight games in January will also be home contests, and the Blue Tigers will host a pair of games during the first month of the season. February will be an altogether different story, however, as only three of LU's nine games will be in Jason Gym.

PRYEAR SUCCESS:  Kaloni Pryear, who started 14 games and made 19 total appearances a year ago, is Lincoln's early scoring leader in 2019-20. Pryear opened the year with 18 points against Southern Arkansas. In the second contest, Pryear scored 16 points, and her 14.7 average has her ranked 16th in the MIAA.

DEFENDERS:  It's still early, but Lincoln boasts one of the MIAA's top shooting defenses. Lincoln has allowed teams to shoot just .356 from the floor, giving the Blue Tigers the second-best defensive percentage in the league. LU is also eighth in the league in three-point defense (.317).

A GLOBAL TEAM:  The 2019-20 Blue Tigers represent six countries, including Australia (Natasha Elliott and coach Graham McFall); Spain (Anna Munoz Vidueira); Nigeria (Vivian Chigbu); Uruguay (Natasha Dolinsky); Bosnia & Herzegovina (Vedrana Radosavljevic); and, of course, the United States of America.

COMPETITIVE EDGE:  Alecia Gulledge made her 2019-20 debut against St. Louis Pharmacy and immediately made an impact, scoring 10 points and grabbing four rebounds. Gulledge also had two steals and dished an assist while shooting .500 from the floor.

HOME DEBUT:  Vivian Chigbu's first home game as a Blue Tiger was a memorable one, as the junior led Lincoln with 26 points and 15 boards against St. Louis Pharmacy. Chigbu also had four steals and an assist, and made her first trey of the season.

GEAR UP FOR THE GAME:  Get your Blue Tiger jerseys, apparel, accessories, office supplies and much, much more at www.BlueTigersStore.com, the official online store of LU athletics. You can get everything you will need for basketball season, with a portion of all sales going directly to support all 12 LU athletic programs.

NEXT UP:  LU plays in the UMSL Classic next week, playing Maryville on Nov. 29 at 1:00 p.m. and Missouri-St. Louis on Nov. 30 at 3:00 p.m.