Game Notes
Live Game Video (courtesy of www.MVC-sports.com)
Free Live Game Audio (courtesy of the Aces' Radio Network)
Live Game Stats
The University of Evansville women’s basketball team will return home to Roberts Stadium on Thursday night to begin an important weekend of Missouri Valley Conference play by hosting the sharp-shooting Creighton University Bluejays. Tip-off is set for 7:00 p.m. and Thursday’s game can be heard live in the Tri-State area on the Aces’ Radio Network (91.5 F.M.-WUEV, 100.5 F.M.-WSJD, 103.9 F.M.-WNTC).
Evansville currently sits in a four-team tie for fourth place in the MVC standings with a 7-7 overall record and 2-2 conference mark. With the top six teams in the conference scheduled to play against one another this weekend, a good weekend of play would push the Purple Aces towards the top of the Valley standings nearing the mid-point of league play. However, UE will have to try and contain one of the nation’s top three-point shooting teams on Thursday night to begin the week off right.
The Creighton Bluejays are currently perched one spot ahead of Evansville in the standings in third place with a 9-5 overall record and 2-1 Valley mark. Creighton ranks 19th in the country this week in three-point field goals per game at 7.2 per contest. Six different Bluejays have already reached the double-digit plateau for three-pointers made this season, and the Creighton three-point attack is led by the Valley’s most accurate long-distance shooter in senior guard Ally Thrall, who sports a 47.3 percent accuracy mark from three-point range this year.
“The thing that makes Creighton so tough is the fact that just about every player on the court can shoot the three, and shoot it well,” said UE head coach Tricia Cullop. “They have so many different weapons to choose from and are so well-coached, that you can’t just try and slow down one individual. You have to play great team defense for a full 40 minutes in order to beat Creighton.”
Defending the home court is something which UE has done well so far this year, as the Purple Aces are 5-1 at Roberts Stadium while giving up an average of just 62.5 points per game. Only two teams have cracked the 60-point barrier against UE at Roberts Stadium so far this year, and Evansville posted a convincing 84-59 victory over Indiana State in its last home contest.
“It will be good to get back in front of the home crowd this week,” said Cullop. “Our fans have really been our sixth man this year and have given us a great lift when we have needed it. Hopefully, the fans will come out to support us once again this week, because both Creighton and Drake will provide us with a very stiff test.”
Evansville’s offense is paced by the talented backcourt of seniors Rebekah Parker (15.5 ppg) and Courtney Felke (12.4 ppg) and junior Ashley Austin (10.9 ppg). Parker has opened MVC play on fire, posting three 20-point-plus scoring games en route to a 21.8 points per game average in league play.
Felke continues to pace the Valley with 41 three-point field goals made, and has closed to within six triples of cracking the MVC’s career Top 20. Austin, meanwhile, has already doubled her career total of double-figure scoring games this year, having reached double-digits in nine of UE’s 14 games already. Austin, who had eight career double-figure games at UE entering the 2007-08 season, has opened Valley play with four-straight double-digit games, and has averaged 13.0 points per game over the last six contests.
Creighton leads the all-time series over UE, 21-8. Creighton was able to knock off Evansville, 76-74, last January at Roberts Stadium behind 20 second-half points from current sophomore forward Sam Schuett.
