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JACKSONVILLE – The Jacksonville State women's basketball team will wrap up a two-game homestand on Wednesday with a morning tip off with the Bruins of Belmont.  Wednesday's 11:30 a.m. game is 'Education Day with the Gamecocks' as nearly 500 elementary kids from Jacksonville and Calhoun County will be in attendance at Pete Mathews Coliseum.

JSU (7-11, 2-4 OVC) looks to snap a pair of losing streaks in the process - a four-game losing skid to the Bruins and a two-game losing skid after falling at Southeast Missouri last Wednesday  and versus UT Martin Saturday.  The Bruins (11-7, 3-2 OVC) enter the contest on a three-game winning streak after suffering through a six-game losing streak to round out the non-conference and the first two games of OVC play.

The Gamecocks and Bruins will meet for the first of two contests this season on Wednesday and the 15th overall matchup between the two programs.  Belmont leads the overall series 11-3 and has claimed the last four games.  JSU's last win over the Bruins was the regular season finale in 2014 as the Gamecocks prevailed in overtime, 71-69.  Jax State and Belmont have been frequent opponents in the postseason as the two schools have faced off against each other in the last two OVC Tournaments.  The Bruins eliminated Jax State in the semifinals of the 2014 tournament and topped JSU in the opening round last season, 55-45.  In the last two meetings between Belmont and JSU, the contest has been extended in to an extra session to determine the winner.  The Bruins escaped Pete Mathews Coliseum last season with a 55-52 win in overtime on February 11, 2015.

JSU begins the week as the top team in the Ohio Valley Conference in scoring defense, limiting the opposition to 58.2 points per game.  That defense will be tested with the Bruins' high-octane offense as they rank second in the league in scoring offense at 74.8 points per game.  BU leads the OVC in field goal percentage and three-point field goal percentage, while Jax State ranks as the best field in field goal shooting defense. 

A pair of Gamecocks have shouldered the scoring load since the beginning of conference play.  Junior guard Briana Benson leads the team in OVC games with a 14.7 scoring clip.  Benson, who comes off the bench has scored in double figures in all six conference games, including back-to-back 18 point performances at Murray State and at Southeast Missouri.  Senior Courtney Strain pushed her scoring average in to double digits with last Saturday's 18-point outing against UT Martin.  Strain averages 10.7 points per OVC contest.

Following Wednesday's contest, JSU will make two trips to the state of Kentucky, beginning on Saturday with a visit to Morehead State.