SETTING THE SCENE
UMSL makes the short trek across the river to Edwardsville, Ill., on Thursday to begin GLVC Tournament play. The No. 4 seed Tritons will take on No. 5 seed Bellarmine at 8:30 p.m. in the fourth of four quarterfinal round games. The winner advances to Saturday's semifinal game at 2:30 p.m., while the championship game is slated for Sunday at 1 p.m. All tournament games will be played inside the Vadalabene Center on the campus of SIUE.

UMSL is 1-0 in the Vadalabene Center this season, having defeated SIUE, 58-55, in an exhibition game.

UMSL IN THE GLVC TOURNAMENT
UMSL is 7-12 in GLVC Tournament games... the Tritons went 1-1 last year, defeating Saint Joseph's, 58-43, in a first round game before falling to Lewis, 81-60, in the quarterfinals... UMSL has made two semifinal appearances (2000 and 1999)... the Tritons are meeting the Knights in the GLVC Tournament for the third time (2015: W, 66-61; 1999: L, 62-64).  

EARLIER THIS SEASON VS. BELLARMINE (January 27, 2018 | St. Louis, Mo.)
A strong third quarter by UMSL helped the Tritons overcome a five-point halftime deficit en route to picking up their fifth straight win with a 72-61 victory. UMSL outscored the Knights, 21-11, in the third frame before going 20-of-26 at the free throw line in the fourth quarter to help seal the win. The Tritons were 30-of-39 at the charity stripe in the game. Junior Arielle Jackson scored 20 points, while senior Jordan Fletcher followed with 16 points. UMSL shot 40 percent, but was outrebounded 37-35, including 13-8 on the offensive end, in which the Knights outscored the Tritons, 10-4, in second chance points.

VERSUS THE REST OF THE GLVC TOURNEY FIELD
UMSL is 5-3 against the other seven teams in the field. The Tritons lost regular season meetings against the top two seeds, No. 1 Drury (69-55) and No. 2 Southern Indiana (70-65) and also lost to No. 6 Truman State (71-61), but has wins over No. 3 Lewis (66-63), No. 5 Bellarmine (72-61), No. 7 William Jewell (57-50) and No. 8 McKendree (63-55 and 75-55).

SIZING UP THE TRITONS
- UMSL is 20-5 overall, having notched a 20-win season for just the third time in program history.
- The Tritons posted a 14-4 GLVC mark, a program-best for GLVC wins.
- UMSL enters the GLVC Tournament on a 13-game win streak.

GOING STREAKING
The Tritons' 13-game win streak is second longest in program history and trails only the inaugural team (1974-75), which holds the record for the longest with 14 games.

HOME SWEET HOME
UMSL posted a 12-0 record inside the Mark Twain Building this season. The Tritons were 12-1 in home games, but the one loss (against Grand Valley State), came in a game that had to be moved to Washington University after a broken hoop.
 
WINS LEADER
Sixth-year Head Coach Katie Vaughn picked up her 97th win at UMSL in the regular season finale at Maryville last Saturday, tying Mike Larson (1981-89) for the program's all-time wins leader.

GLVC POSTSEASON HONORS
The Tritons had four players earn GLVC postseason honors, including senior Jordan Fletcher who was a First Team All-GLVC selection, junior Arielle Jackson and senior Shawnta Johnson who earned Second Team All-GLVC honors and freshman Alex LaPorta, who was tabbed to the All-Freshman Team. Fletcher is the program's first First Team pick since Devonna Smith in 2013-14, and becomes the first player in program history to earn three All-GLVC nods, while UMSL's three selections are the program's most as a GLVC member.

STATISTICALLY SPEAKING
Senior Jordan Fletcher averages 16.4 points, 6.8 rebounds and 1.3 blocks per game, while shooting 59.8 percent from the field. In GLVC-only games, she averaged 19.2 points, which ranked third, and shot a second-best 62.6 percent. Fletcher has scored 20 or more points in six of the last seven games and has increased her scoring average from 9.8 points at the of the 2017 calendar year. In games played in 2018, she is netting 20.8 points per game.  

Junior Arielle Jackson follows with 15.0 points and 3.2 assists per game and leads the team with 55 three-pointers, while senior Shawnta Johnson adds 10.3 points, 6.9 rebounds and 4.9 assists per game.

Other notables include junior Kaitlynn Henning averaging 10.0 points per game - the first time this season she's been in double figurs; freshman Alex LaPorta who averages a team-best 8.6 rebounds per game and senior Sammie Sproul who has 53 three-pointers, a team-high 47 steals and is averaging 8.9 points, 4.3 rebounds and 2.2 assists per game.

TRITON TIDBITS
- Triton players have tallied 14 double-doubles this season, including nine from freshman Alex LaPorta, three from senior Shawnta Johnson and two from senior Jordan Fletcher. Johnson also has the program's first-ever triple double (13 points, 12 assists, 10 rebounds vs. Missouri S&T, 2/10/18)
- The Tritons lead the GLVC and rank 54th in NCAA DII in assist-turnover ratio (0.99).
- UMSL ranks 33rd in DII in three-point shooting percentage (35.8).
- The Triton are second in the league and 14th overall in fewest fouls (386), an average of 15.6 per game.
- UMSL's scoring defense (59.9 ppg) is second in the GLVC and 41st in DII.

CAREER NOTEWORTHY
Senior Jordan Fletcher ranks sixth all-time with 1,258 career points and is the co-all-time leader in blocks with 133 and also ranks first in career field goal shooting percentage (58.2). Other career listings for Fletcher include field goals made (491/4th), free throws made (276/3rd) and free throws attempted (406/2nd).
 
Senior Sammie Sproul is currently sixth in three-point shooting percentage at 37.1 percent.
 
Senior Shawnta Johnson's career assists average of 3.4 is tied for sixth all-time.

HEAD COACH KATIE VAUGHN
Coach Vaughn is in her sixth season as the head women's basketball coach at UMSL, where she has a record of 97-67. She has guided the Tritons to five GLVC Tournaments, including three appearances in the quarterfinals. Vaughn's most successful season came during the 2013-14 campaign, in which UMSL made the program's second-ever NCAA Tournament appearance and a record of 21-8, the second most wins in program history.

Vaughn, the 11th head coach in program history, came to UMSL following three seasons ­at Lincoln (Mo.) University. In nine seasons as a head coach, she is 126-119.

SCOUTING THE OPPONENTS
Bellarmine is 16-11 overall and finished the GLVC schedule with an 11-7 mark. The Knights were 12-4 in home games and 4-7 in road contests and have not played a neutral site game.

SERIES HISTORY
Bellarmine owns a 21-12 advantage in the series, although UMSL has won six of the last seven meetings.