This week: Notre Dame College will finish the regular season at home this week with games against West Liberty on Wednesday, February 21, at 5:30 p.m. and Urbana on Saturday, February 24, at 2 p.m.
 
Records: The Falcons are 19-8, 15-5 MEC after winning their fourth- and fifth-straight road games at Concord and UVa-Wise last week. West Liberty is 12-14, 11-9 MEC after a three-game skid. Urbana has also lost three in a row and has a record of 11-13, 9-11 MEC.
 
Coaches Corner: Lauren Macer is in her first season as the head coach of the Notre Dame women's basketball program. She currently has a record of 19-8. Kyle Cooper is also in his first season at West Liberty. Cooper is 12-14 in his first year with the Hilltoppers. Andrea McCloskey makes it a trio of first-year coaches as the 2017-18 season is her debut with Urbana. She has gone 11-13 this year.
 
Rankings: None of the teams playing this week received votes in the February 20 Women's Basketball Coaches Association poll.
 
Series History: NDC is has split its first 10 games against West Liberty after the Hilltoppers made it an even 5-5 with a win earlier this year. Urbana also gained a win in its series this season, but Notre Dame still leads 8-3
 
Getting Even: Notre Dame has lost just five conference games this season; two of which came on the road against West Liberty and Urbana. The Falcons welcome both of these teams to Murphy Gymnasium this week and will look to recover from the losses earlier this season. On December 2, NDC lost a close 98-94 game after trailing by as many as 15 points. At Urbana on January 20, Notre Dame was outscored in each of the first three quarters, which resulted in a 91-81 loss.
 
Noting the Falcons: In head coach Lauren Macer's first season, she led the Notre Dame team to its highest finish in the Mountain East since its inception prior to the 2013-14 season. The Falcons secured a second-place finish last weekend after winning both their games. NDC will be the No. 2 seed in the MEC Tournament and receive a first-round bye. In their two wins last week, both Marisa Finazzo and Kim Cook scored 40 points to lead the team. Cook now is just 22 points away from reaching 1,000 career points at Notre Dame. The senior forward has scored 383 points this season to rank second on the team with 14.8 points per game. Cook and fellow seniors Erin Haislah, Ciara Reed and Madison Snider will be honored on their Senior Day against Urbana.  
 
Noting the Hilltoppers: West Liberty has lost each of its last three games after winning five straight. But despite the recent losses, the Hilltoppers have had individual success. Marissa Brown was named co-MEC Player of the Week on February 19 after averaging 38.5 points and 17.5 rebounds in two games last week. It was Brown's second MEC weekly honor after earning her first on January 29. WLU is currently the second-highest scoring team in the MEC with 79.2 points per game, just in front of NDC's 76.7. West Liberty does allow the second-most point against as well as its opponents average 79.8 points. The Hilltoppers, like most teams, perform best when making most of their attempts. WLU is 8-2 when shooting over 45 percent and 4-12 when coming in under that mark. West Liberty ranks last in the MEC in steals with just 5.04 per game, but when the team is able to get at least seven steals in a single game they are 7-1.
 
Noting the Blue Knights: Urbana relies heavily on scoring inside. Of the 642 shots the team has made, only 120 have been from beyond the three-point line. That 120 makes is the lowest in the Mountain East Conference. This is likely due to the struggles the Blue Knights have had shooting from distance and choosing to take higher percentage shots. UU ranks last in three-point field goal percentage (.275), but still rank fourth in the MEC in overall field goal percentage (.422). They are the only team in the league that ranks both in the bottom half in three-point percentage and in the top half in overall field goal percentage.