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So far this year, the University of Evansville women’s basketball team has been able to avenge a pair of road losses from last season with wins at Roberts Stadium. On Wednesday, head coach Misty Murphy’s Purple Aces will try to go three-for-three in the revenge department, as Evansville will welcome long-time rival Butler to town for a 7:00 p.m. contest.
After getting revenge for 2007-08 road losses against East Tennessee State and Wright State earlier this season, the Purple Aces will now try to avenge an 81-75 loss suffered at the hands of the Butler Bulldogs last December in Indianapolis. Evansville will bring a 4-1 overall record into Wednesday’s game, and will put a three-game winning streak, and an 11-game home-court winning streak on the line against the Bulldogs.
Evansville improved to 4-1 on the season with a pair of victories this past weekend at the Samford/UAB Thanksgiving Classic in Birmingham, Alabama. Senior forward Robyn Jennings was named the tournament’s Most Valuable Player, after posting back-to-back double-doubles against the host schools, including a 13-point, 14-rebound performance on Saturday to help UE knock Samford from the ranks of the unbeaten. Fellow senior Shannon Novosel also earned all-tournament team honors this past weekend, thanks to a season-high 15-point outing in UE’s double-overtime win over Samford. After a relatively slow start to the season for Novosel, she has caught fire to average 12.3 points and 6.7 rebounds per game for UE over the last three contests.
Meanwhile, Butler will be trying to snap a three-game losing streak on Wednesday after dropping a pair of games to Nebraska and William &?Mary over the weekend in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The Bulldogs currently stand at 1-4 on the season, after winning 20 games a season ago. Junior forward Melanie Thornton currently paces the Bulldog attack with averages of 13.0 points, 9.8 rebounds, and 4.0 steals per game. Senior post player Lade Akande joins her in double-figures with an average of 12.2 points per game, and she has been a thorn in UE’s side throughout the years, averaging 18.7 points per game in her career against Evansville.
Butler leads the all-time series with Evansville, 19-15. The two teams have alternated wins and losses for each of the past six years, with the home team winning all six meetings. Wednesday’s game can be heard live in the Tri-State area on 91.5 F.M.-WUEV, with live video streaming also available courtesy of AcesTV on UE’s official athletics department website, www.gopurpleaces.com.
