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The University of Evansville women’s basketball team will try to slow down one of the Missouri Valley Conference’s top offensive teams on Saturday afternoon, as the Purple Aces will do battle with the Drake University Bulldogs at Roberts Stadium.  Tip-off is set for 2:00 p.m. and Saturday’s game can be heard live on 91.5 F.M.-WUEV.

Drake (10-5 overall, 3-2 MVC) will enter Saturday’s contest ranked second in the league in scoring offense with an average of 71.1 points per game.  The Bulldogs have cracked the 70-point mark seven different times this season, while scoring 80 points or more four times this year, including twice in MVC play. 

Senior point guard Jordann Plummer currently leads a pack of four Bulldogs who average double-figures with an average of 16.6 points per game, and she currently stands atop the MVC leaderboard in scoring in league play with an average of 20.0 points per contest.  Sophomore forward Rachael Hackbarth (12.7 ppg), junior guard Kristin Turk (11.8 ppg), and senior forward Monique’ Jones (11.1 ppg) also currently average double-digits for Drake.

“Offensively, Drake can hurt you in a lot of ways because they are very disciplined in their sets and they pass the ball around extremely well,” said UE head coach Misty Murphy.  “They lead the MVC in turnover margin, so you know that they take care of the basketball, and they are the only team to rank among the league’s top four in all three shooting percentages.

“When you combine those two things, you get a very potent offense, and that is exactly what Drake is.  Our defensive effort and awareness will have to be very high tomorrow, because they will make us work on the defensive end of the court.”

Evansville (3-12 overall, 0-4 MVC) will be trying to snap a four-game losing streak to open conference play on Saturday, as the Purple Aces dropped their fourth-straight Valley game on Thursday with a 63-37 loss to Creighton.  The Bluejays held the Purple Aces to just 25.5 percent shooting from the floor, while limiting UE to its lowest scoring total of the season.  Senior guard Amy Gallagher continues to pace the UE offense with an average of 10.5 points per game.

Drake leads the all-time series over UE, 23-10.  The Bulldogs also hold a 9-6 advantage in games played in Evansville, although, the Purple Aces have won six out of the last seven meetings at Roberts Stadium.  Drake swept the season series from UE last year.