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Six fresh faces will make their University of Evansville women’s basketball debut on Saturday, as head coach Misty Murphy’s Purple Aces will tangle with Division II Oakland City University at Roberts Stadium in UE’s only exhibition game of the 2009-10 season.  Tip-off for the first game of UE’s Homecoming Weekend doubleheader is set for 4:00 p.m.

True freshmen Amber Boyd, Meagan Collins, Chelsea Hawkins, Samantha Heck, Kaylan Martin, and Taylor Ware will don the UE uniform for the first time on Saturday, as the Purple Aces’ 2009-10 squad features a mix of six true freshmen and six returning players from last season’s State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Tournament championship team.

Leading UE’s returning cast are returning starters Amy Gallagher (10.2 ppg, 4.3 rpg) and Stephanie Bamberger (5.1 ppg, 3.4 rpg).  Senior center Hannah Singleton (0.7 ppg, 1.1 rpg) and sophomores Jordan Lewis (4.1 ppg, 1.2 rpg), Eva Benson (2.4 ppg, 1.7 rpg) and Chelsea Falkenstein (0.8 ppg, 1.6 rpg) also return this season for the Purple Aces.  Junior transfer Briyana Blair also is able to practice with the team, but will have to sit out this season due to NCAA transfer rules after transferring to UE from the University of Miami in the off-season.

“Tomorrow, we will begin to answer some of the questions that we have with our young team,” said UE head coach Misty Murphy.  “It will be good to see how our players react to game situations.  You can try to simulate game situations in practice, but until the lights actually go up and you are playing against another team, you don’t quite know how players are going to react.  We’ll begin to find out tomorrow though.

“I really have to credit this team, because they have been working hard in practice these last three weeks.  When you try to blend in seven newcomers to a team, while also trying to get six freshmen up to speed on what it takes to play and compete at this level, there is a big learning curve obviously.  We still have a lot of work to do to get to where we want to go this season, but the players and coaches are working hard towards getting there everyday in practice.”

Evansville will be facing an Oakland City squad which posted an 18-14 overall record last year.  The Lady Oaks will enter Saturday’s game off of last weekend’s 85-59 victory over Fontbonne University. Junior guard Samantha Stahl paced the Lady Oaks with a game-high 21 points, while senior guard Jesse Oxley pitched in 13 points in the victory.

UE will unveil its championship and NCAA Tournament banners for last year’s team on Saturday prior to tip-off of the women’s game with Oakland City.  The Purple Aces’ 2009 State Farm MVC Tournament championship team will also be honored with a ring ceremony at halftime of the men’s exhibition game against Kentucky Wesleyan which is part two of the doubleheader.  The men’s game tips off at 7:05 p.m.  Both games can be heard live on 91.5 F.M.-WUEV, with live streaming video also available on AcesTV.