The Misericordia University basketball teams head to Eastern tomorrow as both Cougar squads look to weather one of the toughest home-court advantages in the league and grab a huge Freedom Conference victory.

After falling to Wilkes, the MU men (12-8, 5-4) find themselves in an absolute logjam in the league standings- a game behind leaders Delaware Valley and DeSales, but just a game out of seventh-place as well. Every matchup will be crucial down the stretch with seven teams separated by just two contests.

Misericordia secured its best victory of the 2009-10 season in St. Davids, running away from the Eagles 80-65 in the Freedom Conference semifinals.

It was a disappointing day for Eastern (11-8, 4-5 this season), but was a breakout game for then-freshman Alex Nelson (17 points, seven rebounds). Now a sophomore, Nelson leads the Eagles in scoring (14.8 ppg) and is second in rebounding (5.8 rpg).

Junior guard Martin Soaries (a 2009-10 first team All-Freedom selection) has returned to the starting lineup after sitting out the first semester, and adds another dangerous option to a talented team.

The Cougars are led by junior Ethan Eichhorst, who is second in the Freedom Conference in scoring (19.2 ppg) and sixth in rebounding (7.4 rpg).

The women's contest features a showdown between two of the leading candidates for league MVP- Misericordia's Christine Marks and Eastern's Shante Jones.

Marks notched a career-high 32 points in a win over Wilkes Thursday, and ranks third in the conference in both scoring (18.4 ppg) and rebounding (9.3 rpg). Her play has helped the Cougars (13-7, 7-2) take over first place in the Freedom standings with one game remaining.

Marks also pulled to within 17 of the 1,000-point mark after her performance at Wilkes.

Eastern (12-8, 4-5) finished in last place in 2009-10 but now finds itself just a game out of playoff spot thanks in large part to Jones, who transferred in after playing for a pair of Division I teams- Iowa and Cleveland State.

Jones leads the league in scoring (22.2 ppg) and ranks second in rebounding (9.4 rpg). Junior forward Bekah Roland has also come up big for the Eagles, contributing 12.7 points and 9.3 rebounds per game this season.

The women tip-off at 1 PM, while the men's game is scheduled for 3 PM. LiveStats for both games will be available here: http://www.goeasterneagles.com/livestats/ .