• Game Notes (PDF)
• AcesTV Live Video Coverage
• Free Live Game Audio (Courtesy of WUEV)
• Live Game Statistics
The University of Evansville women’s basketball team will try to extend its home court winning streak to 11 games on Saturday and avenge one of the Purple Aces’ most heart-breaking losses from last season, as UE will host the Wright State Raiders at Roberts Stadium. Tip-off is set for 4:00 p.m.
Evansville will bring a 1-1 overall record into Saturday’s contest. Including last year’s Postseason WNIT game with Southeast Missouri State, the Purple Aces have won 10-straight home games and 15 out of the last 16 home games overall dating back to the 2006-07 season. UE’s only home loss during that span came to eventual NCAA Tournament participant Illinois State, 75-67, last January.
Senior guard Ashley Austin, the current State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Week, will help lead the Purple Aces into Saturday’s contest with Wright State. Austin currently averages a team-best 15.0 points per game after posting her second-straight double-figure scoring game of the year on Wednesday at No. 15 Notre Dame with 10 points. Fellow senior Robyn Jennings (13.5 ppg) and sophomore Stephanie Bamberger (10.0 ppg) also average double-digits for UE this year. For Bamberger, Saturday’s game will mean a little something extra, as she lives just 20 minutes from the Wright State campus in Kettering, Ohio, and was recruited by Wright State in high school after earning honorable mention all-Ohio honors at Kettering Fairmont.
Wright State will be making its 2008-09 season debut on Saturday. The Raiders return nine players, including four starters from last year’s 16-16 squad which finished second in the Horizon League last season. Wright State is led by a pair of Horizon League All-Newcomer Team members in sophomore guards Shey Peddy and LaShawna Thomas. Peddy, the 2008 Horizon League Newcomer of the Year, averaged 16.7 points per game last season, while Thomas pitched in 11.4 points a contest. Both players scored 16 points against Evansville last year, and Peddy’s buzzer-beating lay-up propelled the Raiders past the Purple Aces, 71-70, in Dayton, Ohio.
Saturday’s game will mark the ninth all-time meeting between UE and Wright State, as the series is tied 4-4. Saturday’s contest can be heard live in the Tri-State area on 91.5 F.M.-WUEV, with live video streaming also available through AcesTV on www.gopurpleaces.com. Saturday’s game will be part one of a UE basketball doubleheader, with the UE men’s basketball team hosting Buffalo at 7:05 p.m.
