FRIDAY at ILLINOIS STATE:  LIVE VIDEO (ESPN3) |  LIVE AUDIO  |  LIVE STATS  |  TV (MVC TV)
SUNDAY at INDIANA STATE:  LIVE VIDEO  |  LIVE AUDIO  |  LIVE STATS
EVANSVILLE NOTES  |  ILLINOIS STATE NOTES

EVANSVILLE, Ind. – The University of Evansville women's basketball team will be on the road for a pair of Missouri Valley Conference contests at Illinois State and Indiana State this weekend.  The Purple Aces will play the Redbirds in Normal, Ill., Friday, Feb. 14, at 7:05 p.m. in a contest that will be televised by MVC TV, before heading to Terre Haute, Ind., for a 1:05 p.m. matchup with in-state rival Indiana State Sunday afternoon.
 
Evansville (8-14, 3-8 MVC) split a pair of home games with Drake and Northern Iowa last week, falling to the Bulldogs, 72-57, on Thursday, before downing the Panthers, 59-50, on Sunday to snap a six-game slide.  Freshmen Sara Dickey scored a team-high 19 points and classmate Sasha Robinson posted a double-double by tallying 11 points and 10 rebounds in the loss to DU, as Drake shot 51.1 percent from the floor and sank 14 three-pointers.
 
 After missing six-straight games due to injury, junior Mallory Ladd returned to the UE lineup against UNI by scoring a game-high 19 points and grabbing seven boards to lead Evansville to its first win over the Panthers since the 2008 MVC Tournament.  Dickey added 17 points in the victory and the Evansville defense limited UNI to a paltry 5-for-33 clip from behind the three-point line.
 
Dickey leads the Aces and the MVC in scoring at 18.2 points per game and is shooting 29.2 percent from long range, a mark that ranks second on the squad.  Ladd is adding 12.5 points per contest, leads the Valley in rebounding (10.3 rpg) and has rejected a team-high 13 shots.  Fellow junior Kat Taylor is also averaging in double figures (11.0 ppg) and leads the team in three-point percentage (30.7 percent) and free throw percentage (85.1 percent).  Freshman Dakota Weatherford has been the leader for the Aces' on the defensive side of the ball, registering a team-high 50 steals, and also leads the team with 80 assists.
 
As a team, UE is averaging 66.1 points per game, while giving up 69.5 points per contest and is shooting 36.4 percent from the field, including a 26.8 percent mark from beyond the arc.  Evansville has knocked down 72.2 percent of its free throw tries, is averaging 41.0 rebounds per game and is forcing 15.5 turnovers per outing.
 
Illinois State (6-14, 5-5 MVC) got back to .500 in MVC play by defeating Valley preseason favorite Indiana State, 53-50, last weekend, behind a career-high 26 points from Stekara Hall.  Hall finished the contest 8-for-13 from the field and 10-for-13 at the line, and was part of a Redbird defense that forced 25 Sycamore turnovers.  Chloe Nelson added 10 points for Illinois State in the victory and Lindsay Smith recorded a team-high four steals.
 
On the year, Nelson leads the Redbirds in scoring (13.8 ppg) and is the lone Illinois State player averaging in double figures.  Nelson also leads the Redbirds with 54 assists and is one of four Illinois State players with 23 steals.  Octavia Crump and Hall average 9.9 and 9.6 points per contest, respectively, and Crump is the Redbirds' top rebounder at 6.5 boards per outing and is shooting a team-best 54.3 percent from the floor.
 
Illinois State ranks ninth in the Valley in scoring at 59.8 points per game, but the Redbirds are putting up 65.1 points per game in their 10 league contests, which ranks seventh in the conference.  ISU is shooting 38.2 percent from the field, 26.7 percent from long range and 67.7 percent from the free throw line.  Illinois State also suffers a -1.5 rebounding margin, but is forcing 17.4 turnovers per contest, including 7.4 steals per outing.
 
Indiana State (12-9, 7-3 MVC) started its league schedule with six-straight wins, but the Sycamores have dropped three of their last four MVC contests, including a 53-50 decision to Illinois State last Friday.  Stephanie Wittman was the only Indiana State player to finish in double figures, as she scored 10 points in 23 minutes off the bench.  Bilqis Abdul-Qaadir added nine points in the loss and Marina Laramie pitched in eight.  Nine Sycamores recorded at least three rebounds in the defeat, including Travecia Franklin, who grabbed a team-high six boards.
 
Abdul-Qaadir leads Indiana State in scoring (14.1 ppg), assists (82) and steals (41), while Anna Munn ranks second on the squad in scoring (13.1 ppg) and leads the team with an 89.4 percent free throw percentage.  Racheal Mahan and Laramie rank first and second on the team in rebounding at 6.7 and 5.8 rebounds per outing, respectively, while Mahan is shooting a team-best 55.0 percent from the field.
 
Indiana State is averaging 63.8 points per game as a squad and is limiting its opponents to 62.2 points per game defensively.  The Sycamores own a 38.7 percent field goal percentage, are shooting 31.3 percent from three-point distance and have connected on 65.4 percent of their free throws.  Indiana State also boasts a +1.7 rebounding margin and +2.5 turnover margin, as the Sycamores are forcing 19.1 opponent miscues per game, including 9.1 steals per contest, a mark that ranks second in the conference.
 
Evansville trails the all-time series with Illinois State, 27-13, and has won just two of the last 17 meetings with the Redbirds.  Illinois State defeated the Aces, 78-54, earlier this season at the Ford Center, after shooting 54 percent from the field, marking the highest shooting percentage by a UE opponent this season.
 
Indiana State leads Evansville, 33-14, in the all-time series and has won eight of the last nine meetings, which includes a 67-46 victory over the Aces in the first meeting between the two squads this season.  In that contest, the Sycamores limited UE to a 27.9 percent field goal percentage, including a 4-for-22 mark from three-point range.