This Week: Notre Dame College rounds out the regular season with two MEC road games this week. The Falcons travel to West Liberty on Wednesday, February 27, for a 5:30 p.m. contest before visiting Urbana on Saturday, March 2, at 2 p.m.   
 
Records: The Falcons are currently 14-12 (11-9 MEC) after splitting a pair of MEC games last week. West Liberty is 18-8 (15-5 MEC) after most recently losing to Glenville State. Prior to that loss, the Hilltoppers were on a nine-game win streak. Urbana is on a streak of its own, having lost its last four games. The Blue Knights are now 3-21 (3-17 MEC).
 
Coaches Corner: Lauren Macer is in her second season as the head coach of the NDC women's basketball program. She holds a record of 37-21, 28-14 MEC. West Liberty's Kyle Cooper and Urbana's Andrea McCloskey are also in their second years as the head coaches of their teams. In their first two seasons, Cooper is 31-24 (27-15 MEC) and McCloskey is 15-36 (13-29 MEC).
 
Rankings: No teams competing this week were ranked in the February 25 Women's Basketball Coaches Association poll. West Liberty is the seventh-ranked team in the Atlantic Regional Rankings, which were first released on February 20.
 
Series History: The Falcons are 7-5 against West Liberty and 10-4 against Urbana since joining the NCAA Division II ranks prior to the 2012-13 season. NDC defeated both these teams at home earlier in the season with an 88-81 victory against WLU and an 81-62 win against Urbana. In head coach Lauren Macer's first season, Notre Dame split games with the Hilltoppers and Blue Knights, winning against both teams at home and falling on the road.
 
Mountain East Conference Playoff Picture: Notre Dame secure a first-round bye last week after defeating UVa-Wise and receiving help with a Shepherd loss. The Falcons are currently tied with UVa-Wise, but own the tie-breaker against the Cavaliers. Both teams hold an 11-9 MEC record and play the final two regular season games this week.  The teams are battling for the No. 5 and No. 6 seeds are they cannot reach the No. 4 seed or fall below No. 6. The second-round matchups pit the No. 3 seed against No. 6 and No. 4 against No. 5. Right now, Charleston and Concord are tied for second with 16-4 MEC records and West Liberty is fourth with a 15-5 record. The three teams vying for the No. 2-4 seeds all are 1-1 against each other this season, which means their seeding could come down to their records against top seeds. Due to these three teams all having lost to top-seeded Glenville State, the highest ranked team, not among themselves, would be either Notre Dame or UVa-Wise. With a loss to NDC earlier in the season, West Liberty is facing an uphill battle, but Charleston and Concord both play UVa-Wise this week, meaning there could be a lot of moving around for seeds 2-6.
 
Noting the Falcons: Since joining the MEC prior to the 2013-14 season, Notre Dame is 8-2 in the last weeks of the regular season. But those two losses both came at the hands Urbana, at Urbana. Playing at Urbana has been tough for the Falcons since becoming an NCAA program. Notre Dame may have an overall record of 10-4 against the Blue Knights, but it is 3-3 when playing on the road at Urbana. History shows a better path for NDC to defeat West Liberty, however. The Falcons are 5-0 in their penultimate regular season games since joining the MEC. The final game against Urbana will be the first regular-season game that Notre Dame has played in March since being in the MEC. Over that span, NDC has a record of 6-5, all in the MEC Tournament.
 
Noting the Hilltoppers: West Liberty is the second-highest scoring team in the conference with an 84.5 average behind Glenville State's 104.3. The Hilltoppers' nine-game winning streak ended against Glenville State last week with a 112-99 loss. Where GSC earns its points with volume, West Liberty earns theirs with their high-percentage shooting. WLU leads the league in three-point field goal percentage (.391), ranks third in overall field goal percentage (.468) and rank second in free throw shooting (.752). The Hilltoppers excel in perimeter play on both ends of the court as the WLU defense against threes ranks second in the MEC with opponents shooting just .289 beyond the arc. Despite this, West Liberty ranks just seventh in the league in overall opponent field goal percentage (.434).
 
Noting the Blue Knights: Urbana has not been able to win many games this season, but the recipe for success for the Blue Knights has been laid out. First, Urbana needs to be at home. All three wins this season for UU have come on its home court. Next, the team needs to shoot over 40 percent from the field. This is not a guaranteed outcome, though, with Urbana's 3-8 record when shooting over that mark, but when shooting under 40 percent UU is 0-13. Qualifier number three is rebounding. All three victories this season have come when rebounding more than 40 misses. When combining 40+ rebounds and 40+ shooting percentage the Blue Knights are 3-3. Along with shooting well and rebounding, Urbana needs to hit the 80-point mark. When at home, shooting above 40 percent, rebounding more than 40 misses, and scoring at least 80 points, UU is 3-1. The last time out against NDC, the Blue Knights were on the road, shot 36 percent, gathered 25 rebounds (their lowest of the year), and only scored 62.