•  Game Notes (PDF)
•  Free Internet-Only Audio Broadcast (Courtesy of WUEV)
•  Live Stats (Courtesy of Murray State)

The University of Evansville women’s basketball team will try to derail one of the nation’s longest current home-court winning streaks on Saturday, as the Purple Aces will travel south to Murray, Kentucky to take on defending Ohio Valley Conference champion Murray State.  Tip-off is set for 7:00 p.m. and due to a time conflict with the UE men’s basketball game, the game can be heard on an internet-only basis by clicking on the link above.

Evansville (0-2) will try to snap Murray State’s (3-0) current 20-game home-court winning streak on Saturday.  Murray State has not lost at home since dropping an 81-74?decision to Southeast Missouri State on January 26, 2008.  The 20-game streak ranks as the fifth-best active streak in women’s college basketball.

The Racers extended their streak to 20 games with a convincing 97-54 victory over Mid-Continent University on Wednesday night.  Sophomore guard Rachael Isom led six Murray State players in double-figures with 17 points in just 17 minutes of action, as she keyed the Racers’ three-point barrage by going 4-for-8 from beyond the arc.  Overall, Murray State connected on 14 of 31 three-point attempts in their home opener to the 2009-10 season.

The Racers are paced by current Ohio Valley Conference Freshman of the Week Mariah Robinson, who currently averages 15.0 points per game on 69.2 percent shooting from three-point range (9-of-13).  Sophomore forward Kristen Kluempers (10.3 ppg, 4.7 rpg) and Isom (9.3 ppg) are next in a very balanced Murray State attack.  The Racers feature seven returning players from last year’s 23-9 squad which advanced to the second round of the Postseason WNIT.

Evansville, meanwhile, will be looking to bounce back from a 69-66 loss to Samford on Sunday.  The Bulldogs were able to rally from an 18-point deficit behind the guard tandem of Monica Maxwell and Emily London to hand UE its second defeat of the season.  The loss overshadowed a career effort by sophomore forward Chelsea Falkenstein, who led UE with a career-best 14 points and nine rebounds.  Falkenstein, a former Evansville Memorial standout, leads the Purple Aces overall in both scoring and rebounding so far with averages of 10.5 points and 7.0 rebounds per game.  Senior guard Amy Gallagher (10.0 ppg, 4.5 rpg) and rookie sharpshooter Chelsea Hawkins (9.5 ppg, 62.5 percent 3-pt shooting) are not far behind for UE.

“Sunday’s loss was obviously a tough loss to swallow, but hopefully, our young team was able to learn something from it,” said UE head coach Misty Murphy.  “At this level, you need to be able to give a strong effort for a full 40 minutes to win.  I felt like we had a great effort for the first 30 minutes against Samford, and then let up.  That can’t happen for us to be successful, especially against a good team like Samford.

“Saturday’s game will be very tough.  Murray State plays extremely well at home, and they take a lot of pride in defending their home court.  It will also be the first time that our freshmen will play in a hostile environment.  We need to come focused and ready to compete for a full 40 minutes, because I know that Murray State will be ready.”