• Game Notes (PDF)
• AcesTV's Live Video Coverage
• Free Game Audio (Courtesy of WUEV)
• Live Game Stats
The Misty Murphy Era at the University of Evansville will officially begin on Saturday at 4:00 p.m., as Murphy’s Purple Aces will battle 2008 NCAA Tournament participant East Tennessee State at Roberts Stadium in the regular-season opener for both schools.
Murphy was named the ninth women’s basketball coach in school history back in May, and will carry a 108-65 career coaching record into her UE debut, after spending six years at both Sheridan College and Division II Colorado State-Pueblo from 1999 through 2005. Murphy spent the past three seasons as an assistant and associate head coach at Rice University, where she helped the Owls to back-to-back postseason appearances in 2006 and 2007.
Murphy will try to do the same at Evansville this year, as she inherits a group of 10 letterwinners from last year’s 21-12 Missouri Valley Conference regular-season co-championship squad which advanced to the second round of the Postseason WNIT. The Purple Aces posted an 87-56 exhibition victory over Oakland City University last weekend, in the lone exhibition contest for Murphy and UE. Senior center Shannon Novosel, a preseason all-MVC selection, led three Purple Aces in double-figures with 16 points in 19 minutes of action, with 12 of the 13 players in uniform reaching the scoring column.
East Tennessee State returns eight players from last year’s squad which advanced to the school’s first NCAA Tournament with a 21-12 overall record. Leading ETSU’s returning cast is two-time all-Atlantic Sun Conference performer Siarre Evans, a 5’11 wing player who is already closing in on 1,000 career points at ETSU. Evans averaged 13.3 points and 7.1 rebounds per game a season ago for the Lady Buccaneers, and scored a game-high 24 points in ETSU’s 82-67 exhibition victory over Cumberlands on November 3. A-Sun Tournament MVP Latisha Belcher (10.6 ppg, 6.5 rpg) and A-Sun All-Tournament team guard TaRonda Wiles (9.8 ppg, 4.6 rpg) also return for the Lady Bucs.
Saturday’s contest will mark just the second all-time meeting between UE and ETSU in women’s basketball, as the Lady Bucs outlasted the Purple Aces, 77-74, last November in Johnson City, Tennessee. Saturday’s game will also be the 40th season-opener in the modern era of UE women’s basketball, with the Purple Aces holding a 21-18 record in openers, while having won eight out of the last nine season-opening contests. Saturday’s contest can be heard live on 91.5 F.M.-WUEV, and will be followed by the UE men’s basketball team hosting Austin Peay at 7:05 p.m. in the regular-season opener for both squads.
