Western Illinois hosts Little Rock after Nicastro's 22-point game

Little Rock Trojans (11-13, 8-6 OVC) at Western Illinois Leathernecks (20-4, 12-3 OVC)

Macomb, Illinois; Thursday, 6 p.m. EST

BOTTOM LINE: Western Illinois hosts Little Rock after Mia Nicastro scored 22 points in Western Illinois' 93-49 win against the Eastern Illinois Panthers.

The Leathernecks have gone 12-0 at home. Western Illinois ranks fourth in the OVC with 12.7 assists per game led by Kaylen Reed averaging 3.4.

The Trojans are 8-6 in conference games. Little Rock ranks seventh in the OVC with 22.3 defensive rebounds per game led by Jordan Holman averaging 5.1.

Western Illinois makes 46.2% of its shots from the field this season, which is 7.0 percentage points higher than Little Rock has allowed to its opponents (39.2%). Little Rock has shot at a 35.9% rate from the field this season, 1.5 percentage points fewer than the 37.4% shooting opponents of Western Illinois have averaged.

The Leathernecks and Trojans square off Thursday for the first time in conference play this season.

TOP PERFORMERS: Addi Brownfield is shooting 40.9% from beyond the arc with 1.6 made 3-pointers per game for the Leathernecks, while averaging 12.3 points, 6.2 rebounds and 2.2 steals. Nicastro is shooting 57.7% and averaging 25.1 points over the past 10 games.

Holman is averaging 16.5 points, 6.6 rebounds and 1.5 steals for the Trojans. Brenna Burk is averaging 9.1 points over the past 10 games.

LAST 10 GAMES: Leathernecks: 8-2, averaging 73.8 points, 31.3 rebounds, 13.0 assists, 6.5 steals and 3.3 blocks per game while shooting 49.3% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 60.3 points per game.

Trojans: 5-5, averaging 56.4 points, 34.8 rebounds, 7.9 assists, 6.2 steals and 2.6 blocks per game while shooting 34.1% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 64.0 points.

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