The University of Illinois Springfield women’s basketball team leads NCAA Division II in blocked shots per game.
That’s a sign the players are giving effort. It is also something for UIS to hang its hat on heading into today’s Great Lakes Valley Conference opener against Missouri S&T at 1 p.m. in Rolla, Missouri.
UIS is averaging 8.3 blocks per game, one block more than second-place Southwest Minnesota State.
Senior forward Destiny Ramsey is the GLVC’s top shot blocker with 2.67 per game.
The league’s No. 2 blocker is UIS sophomore center Katelyn Rosner. She’s averaging 2.33 blocks per game.
On the flip side, UIS leads the GLVC in scoring offense at 84 points per game.
Senior guard Shelbi Patterson is averaging a team-high 15.1 points and ranks second in the conference with a .584 field goal percentage.
“I’d like to have a rotation of 9 or 10 players. I don’t know if we’ve found that yet," said UIS coach Mark Kost. "We’ve been able to play in games where we’ve had foul trouble with our starters and win, so that gives me encouragement. That shows we have depth.”
When it comes to the UIS men’s basketball team, coach Bill Walker says he’s getting closer to having a clear rotation.
“Competition in practice is healthy,” he said.
UIS is riding a five-game win streak. The last time they won five straight games was the 2008-09 season when UIS still competed at the NAIA level.
This story appeared in The State Journal-Register on December 1, 2017.
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