This week, the Benedictine University women's basketball team will play two games against NACC opponents at the Dan and Ada Rice Center. The Eagles will take on Milwaukee School on Engineering on Wednesday at 7:00 p.m. and Marian on Saturday at 7:15 p.m.

The Eagles (5-8, 5-3) sit at fifth in the NACC and are coming off of a week in which the team played just one game, as last Tuesday's match-up against Wisconsin Lutheran was moved to February 6 due to weather conditions. BenU did travel to Mequon, Wisconsin to take on conference-leading Concordia-Wisconsin and lost 65-54. Junior guards Vincenza Ranallo (12.7p, 5.8r) and Meghan Novak (12.4p) scored 12 and 11 points respectively, while senior guard Michelle Gaede (3.5p, 2.2r) added 10 points off the bench, her season-high.

MSOE (8-6, 6-3) sits one spot ahead of the Eagles at fourth in the NACC and have been arguably the most surprising team in the conference this season. After finishing 2-22 overall and 2-16 in conference play a season ago, the Raiders have used the conference's top offense (74.6ppg) to vault themselves into conference contenders. MSOE forward Holly Denfeld has been one of the NACC's top players, averaging 14.9 points per game (sixth in the NACC) and 9.9 rebounds per game (second) while shooting 54.7% from the field (fourth). The Raiders also have two more players in Megan Kroll (12.1ppg) and Shannon Larson (11.6ppg) averaging in double figures.

While the Raiders are vastly improved, the team has struggled lately, dropping both contests last week. MOSE lost at Aurora 89-81 on Wednesday and was defeated at home by third-place Alverno 96-92 in overtime on Saturday. Benedictine defeated MSOE 54-45 in Milwaukee in the only meeting between the schools last season. It was a game in which 12 different Eagles scored, no Eagle scored in double figures, and Vincenza Ranallo tallied six of the team's ten steals.

The Eagles will welcome Marian (3-11, 3-6) to the Dan and Ada Rice Center on Saturday. The Sabres have dropped six straight contests and has not won since defeating winless Concordia-Chicago 58-56 at home on December 14. Marian is averaging just 52.1 pointer per game on the losing streak and is 11th in the conference in points per game at 58.4 on the season.

Despite the struggling offense, Marian boasts the conference's top three-point shooter in guard Sarah Albert. She's shooting 41.9% from beyond the arc and is also tenth in the conference in scoring at 14.0 points per game. Albert had 11 points and shot 3-for-8 from three-point land in the January 4 meeting between the two schools, which was a 74-60 Eagles victory. Marian was led by Amelia Mirsberger's (8.5ppg) 17 points in that contest, which Novak paced BenU with a game-high 22 points and 9-of-11 shooting from the free throw line.