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EVANSVILLE, Ind. – The University of Evansville women’s basketball team will be on its home court at the Ford Center for the first time this season when it hosts San Jose State Saturday at 1 p.m. for its home opener. 
 
The Purple Aces (1-1) split a pair of road games in their season-opening weekend, earning  a 54-45 victory at Ball State on Friday night, before falling at Illinois, 84-52, Sunday afternoon. 
 
UE gave second-year head coach Oties Epps his first road win with its victory over the Cardinals, as the Aces knocked down 11 three-pointers and outrebounded Ball State, 40-33.  Redshirt sophomore Khristian Hart led all scorers with 19 points and became the first Evansville player to hit five shots from behind the arc since 2008.  Senior Meagan Collins added 17 points on a 5-for-9 shooting effort and pulled down seven rebounds.
 
Against the Fighting Illini, Hart once again scored in double figures, tying senior Samantha Heck for the team lead with 12 points in a losing effort.  The Illinois defense held the Aces to just a 25.5 percent shooting percentage, including a 15.0 percent clip from three-point range (3-for-20).  Five players scored in double figures for the Fighting Illini, including Amber Moore, who scored a game-high 19 points, and Karisma Penn, who posted a double-double by scoring 11 points and collecting 12 rebounds.
 
Hart, who is averaging 15.5 points and 2.5 assists per contest, leads Evansville offensively, while Collins is averaging 13.0 points and 5.5 boards per outing.  Heck has pulled down a team-leading 8.5 rebounds per game, including six on the offensive glass.  The senior forward has also recorded four blocked shots and is tied for fifth on UE’s all-time blocked shots list with 63.  As a team, the Aces are shooting 32.2 percent from the field and 31.8 percent from three-point land.
 
San Jose State (2-0) is off to a quick start this season, after going 11-19 last season, as the Spartans posted wins over San Francisco State and Utah Valley in their first two outings.  SJSU is the youngest team in the nation, as the nine-player squad is made up of one junior, two sophomores and six freshmen. 
 
Head coach Tim La Kose is in his 20th season as a head coach and is in his second year at the helm of the Spartan program.  He is the reigning Western Athletic Conference Coach of the Year and owns a career record of 360-171.  San Jose State returns just one letterwinner from last season and was picked seventh in both WAC preseason polls.
 
SJSU placed four players in double figures in its win over SFSU and was led by Classye James, who posted a game-high 21 points, going 11-for-12 from the free throw line.  Emily Schill recorded a double-double for the Spartans with 12 points and 10 rebounds, while Ta’Rea Cunnigan added 16 points and pulled down eight boards. 
 
In last night’s win over Utah Valley, Cunnigan dropped in a career-high 25 points, while James recorded her first-career double-double with 22 points and 12 rebounds, and Riana Byrd came off the bench to record a double-double with 14 points and a game-high 17 boards.  Against UVU, San Jose State held the Wolverines to a paltry 20.0 percent shooting percentage in the first half and turned 29 Utah Valley turnovers into 32 points.
 
As a team, the Spartans are averaging 75.5 points per contest and have forced 58 turnovers in their first two outings.  San Jose State has a pair of players averaging over 20 points per game, as James leads the squad at 21.5 points per game and Cunnigan has added 20.5 per outing.  Byrd has pulled down 24 rebounds for a 12.0 average, with half of them being on the offensive glass.
 
Saturday will mark the first-ever meeting between Evansville and San Jose State, and will be just the second time in program history that the Aces have played a team from the Western Athletic Conference.  UE defeated New Mexico State, 63-39, at the Indiana Classic in Bloomington, Ind., during the 1999-2000 season.