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EVANSVILLE, Ind. – The University of Evansville women’s basketball team will wrap up the home portion of its 2012-13 schedule by hosting Northern Iowa and Bradley for a pair of games this weekend at the Ford Center.  The Purple Aces are slated to play the Panthers Friday at 7 p.m. and will honor their four seniors as part of Senior Day festivities Sunday at 1 p.m. against the Braves.
 
Evansville (8-17, 6-8 MVC) dropped a pair of games last weekend at Wichita State and Missouri State, suffering a, 68-49, setback against the Shockers, prior to falling to the Lady Bears, 66-63, in a tightly contested matchup in Springfield, Mo.  Senior Samantha Heck led the Aces with a pair of 17-point efforts last weekend, while freshman Laura Friday scored a career-high 15 points in Sunday’s game at MSU.  UE connected on 11 of its 27 three-point attempts against Missouri State, marking the fourth time this season that Evansville has hit 10 or more threes in a game.
 
The Aces are averaging 56.9 points per game and shooting 37.5 percent from the field.  UE owns a 31.5 three-point percentage and has been one of the Missouri Valley Conference’s best teams at the free throw line, as it ranks third in the league with a 74.5 percent free throw percentage.  However, opponents of the Aces are grabbing one more rebound per contest and forcing 4.6 more turnovers.
 
Individually, Heck leads Evansville in scoring (13.2 ppg), field goal percentage (47.1%) and blocked shots (18) and is just six rebounds shy of becoming just the third player in UE women’s basketball history to record 1,200 career points and 700 career rebounds.  Entering the weekend, Heck has tallied 1,224 points and hauled in 694 rebounds in her career as an Ace.  Sophomore Mallory Ladd is second on the team in scoring (11.8 ppg) and leads the team with an 8.6 rebounds average.  Ladd is also on pace to break Evansville’s single-season free throw percentage record, as she is shooting 94.4 percent from the charity stripe this season, nearly four points higher than the current record of 90.6 percent established by Amy Humphries during the 1988-89 season.  Friday currently ranks fourth on the team in scoring at just 4.6 points per outing, but has averaged a team-best 10.6 points per contest over Evansville’s last four games, hitting nine treys.
 
Northern Iowa (12-14, 7-7 MVC) will be looking to end a two-game skid Friday night at the Ford Center, as it was swept last weekend by Drake and Creighton in Cedar Falls, Iowa.  The Panthers fell, 73-66, to the Bluejays, prior to dropping an 82-67 decision to the Bulldogs.  The MVC’s leading scorer, Jacqui Kalin, led UNI with 25 points and Hannah Schonhardt added 14 points, five rebounds and two blocks in the loss to Drake.  DU shot 57.9 percent from the field in the win and scored 48 first-half points using a 71.4 percent first-half shooting percentage.
 
As a team, the Panthers average 62.2 points per game and shoot 38.2 percent from the field.  Northern Iowa boasts a 33.7 percent shooting percent from behind the three-point line and is knocking down 70.1 percent of its free throw opportunities.  Opponents are outrebounding UNI by 3.3 boards per game, but the Panthers do own at +0.5 turnover margin.
 
Kalin leads Northern Iowa and the Valley with a 19.4 points per game scoring average and has dished out a team-high 91 assists.  The senior guard is also averaging 5.1 rebounds per game, shooting 42.2 percent from the field and is hitting 93.8 percent of her three throw attempts.  Jen Keitel and Schonhardt each averaged 7.5 points per contest and are tied for second on the team in that category, while Keitel is the Panthers’ top rebounder at 5.6 boards per outing.
 
Bradley (11-14, 5-9 MVC), who will play at Southern Illinois Friday before making the trip to Evansville, split a pair of games with Drake and Creighton last weekend in Peoria, Ill., earning a, 93-84, win over the Bulldogs, before falling to the Bluejays, 83-65.  Michelle Young led three Braves in double figures in the loss to Creighton, scoring 19 points and recording a game-high four steals.  Katie Yohn added 15 points for BU and Brooke Bisping finished with 11 points and seven rebounds.
 
Bradley is the Valley’s top scoring team with a 72.7 points per game scoring average, but it also ranks eighth in the league in scoring defense, as opponents are scoring 71.8 points per contest against the Braves.  BU ranks third in the MVC with a 41.1 percent shooting percentage and has connected on 31.9 percent of its shots from beyond the arc.  Bradley is also the league’s top free throw shooting team, converting on 78.0 percent of its chances at the foul line.
 
Shronda Butts leads the Braves in scoring (12.4 ppg) and is one of four BU players averaging in double figures.  Yohn ranks second on the squad in scoring (11.0 ppg) and rebounding (6.2 rpg) and is Bradley’s leading shot blocker (20).  Catie O’Leary and Kelsey Budd are adding 10.8 and 10.7 points per contest, respectively, with O’Leary leading the team in rebounding (7.0 rpg).
 
Evansville trails, 23-18, in the all-time series with Northern Iowa and fell to the Panthers, 75-64, in the meeting earlier this season in Cedar Falls. 
 
The Aces also trail the all-time series with Bradley by a 23-16 margin and were blown out by the Braves, 78-52, in the first meeting this season in Peoria, Ill.