• Game Notes (PDF)
• Free Live Game Audio (Courtesy Of WUEV)
The University of Evansville women’s basketball team will continue its conference-opening three-game Missouri Valley Conference road trip on Thursday, as the Purple Aces will travel north to Peoria, Illinois to battle the Braves of Bradley University. Tip-off is set for 7:05 p.m. and Thursday’s game can be heard live on 91.5 F.M.-WUEV.
Evansville (3-9 overall, 0-1 MVC) will try to bounce back from Saturday’s MVC-opening loss at Southern Illinois on Thursday night. SIU senior forward Stephany Neptune finished an assist shy of a triple-double on Saturday, as she helped the Salukis to a 79-68 victory over UE. Senior guard Amy Gallagher was able to counter with a team-high 15 points and junior forward Stephanie Bamberger pitched in 12 points, but the Purple Aces were not able to overcome 32.4 percent shooting in the second half or 14 turnovers after halftime in the loss.
The loss overshadowed another strong game by Gallagher, who has shaken off a slow start to her senior year to emerge as the Purple Aces’ team leader. After opening the year averaging just 7.7 points per game through the first six contests, Gallagher has nearly doubled that over the last six games to lead the team in scoring in each of the last six contests. Gallagher has averaged 14.8 points per game over the last six games, while scoring at least 13 points in five of the six contests. She has moved her season average to a team-best 11.3 points per game, while also leading the team with 30 assists.
Gallagher will lead UE against a Bradley squad which currently stands at 4-8 on the year and 0-2 in the MVC. The Braves dropped both ends of the Missouri State-Wichita State road swing last weekend by scores of 72-67 and 69-55. Freshman guard Katie Yohn, who leads the team in scoring this year at 9.6 points per game, averaged a team-best 13.0 points per game on the road swing.
Thursday’s game will be just the fourth home game of the year for the Braves, who recently wrapped up a five-game, month-long road trip. While the Braves have started slow offensively with an average of just 63.1 points per game, Bradley does enter Thursday’s match-up as one of the nation’s top rebounding teams, as the Braves currently lead the MVC in rebounding at 43.3 caroms per contest. The Bradley rebounding effort is led by junior forward Sonya Harris, who ranks second in the MVC and 19th nationally in rebounding at 10.4 rebounds per game.
Bradley leads the all-time series over UE, 16-15, and the two teams have alternated regular-season series sweeps in each of the last seven years. Bradley won a pair of regular-season games against UE last year, before the Purple Aces responded with a thrilling 84-81 overtime victory over the Braves in the semifinals of the State Farm MVC Tournament last March, in which UE rallied from a 20-point first-half deficit to win.
