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Evansville will host Wichita State and Missouri State for its final two home games of the season.

Aces Host Wichita State, Missouri State for Final Two Home Games

2/26/2014 10:37:00 AM

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EVANSVILLE NOTES  |  WICHITA STATE NOTES

EVANSVILLE, Ind. –
The University of Evansville women's basketball team will play its final two home games of the 2013-14 season this week, when it hosts Wichita State in a televised game Thursday at 7 p.m. and  welcomes Missouri State to the Ford Center Saturday at 2 p.m. for Senior Day.
 
All tickets for Thursday night's game against the Shockers will be $1 and Evansville will honor its two seniors, Katie Ellerson and Miranda Liles, prior to Saturday's matchup with the Lady Bears.
 
Evansville (11-14, 6-8 MVC) is currently on a four-game winning streak and put up one of the best defensive efforts in school history last weekend in a 67-31 victory over Southern Illinois.  The Aces limited the Salukis to just eight second-half points and the result marked only the fourth time since 1977-78 that a UE squad has held an opponent under 35 points.  Offensively, freshman Sara Dickey scored a game-high 18 points and junior Khristian Hart, who returned after missing Evansville's last seven games due to injury, scored 14 points on a 6-for-9 shooting effort off the bench.  Fellow junior Mallory Ladd also finished in double figures with 13 points.
 
Dickey leads the team and ranks second in the Missouri Valley Conference in scoring (18.3 ppg) and has scored in double figures in 24 of the Aces' 25 games this season.  With her 18-point outing against Southern Illinois last Sunday, the freshman guard moved into 10th place on UE's single-season scoring list with 458 points.  Ladd ranks second on the squad in scoring (11.8 ppg) and leads the conference in rebounding (9.5 rpg), while recording a team-best 17 blocks.  Fellow junior Kat Taylor, who leads Evansville with a 34.0 percent clip from beyond the arc, is also averaging in double figures at 11.2 points per game.  Freshman Dakota Weatherford has dished out a team-high 92 assists and tallied 53 steals to rank fourth in the Valley.
 
As a team, the Aces are averaging 66.4 points per game on the year and have limited opponents to just a 49.8 points per game average and 29.8 percent field goal mark during its currently four-game winning streak.  UE is shooting 37.1 percent from the field, 28.0 percent from three-point range and 71.6 percent at the free throw line.  Evansville owns a +0.2 turnover margin and is averaging 13.7 assists per contest.
 
Wichita State (22-4, 13-2 MVC), who had its 20-game winning streak snapped with an 80-71 loss at Northern Iowa (Feb. 16), has lost two of its last three games, as the Shockers split a pair of home contests with Illinois State and Indiana State last weekend.  WSU topped the Redbirds, 85-66, before suffering a 63-51 setback to the Sycamores.  Against Illinois State, Jamillah Bonner led three Wichita State players in double figures with a game-high 21 points and Alex Harden added 20 points, eight steals and seven assists.  In Sunday's loss to Indiana State, Michelle Price posted a double-double for the Shockers with 16 points and 13 rebounds, and Michaela Dapprich pitched in 11 points.
 
Harden leads WSU in several statistical categories, including scoring (16.8 ppg), assists (5.1 apg), steals (58), field goal percentage (50.3 percent), three-point percentage (43.2 percent) and free throw percentage (83.3 percent).  Bonner and Price are averaging 12.9 and 12.1 points per contest, respectively, and Price has grabbing a team-best 7.4 rebounds per outing.  Dapprich is averaging just shy of double figures at 9.2 points per game.
 
Wichita State is the Valley's top offensive and defensive team, as the Shockers are scoring a league-best 72.1 points per game and giving up just 57.5 points per contest for a +14.6 scoring margin.  WSU also leads the MVC in field goal percentage at 44.7 percent, owns a 32.4 percent clip from beyond the arc and is knocking down 68.5 percent of its attempts at the free throw line.  Defensively, Wichita State boasts a +2.8 rebounding margin and +5.8 turnover margin, as it is forcing 19.7 turnovers per game, including 10.2 steals per contest.
 
Missouri State (12-14, 7-8 MVC) will be looking to stop a four-game slide Thursday, when the Lady Bears travel to Southern Illinois, before making to the trip to Evansville on Sunday afternoon.  MSU fell to Indiana State, 73-37, and Illinois State, 66-57, in a pair of games in Springfield, Mo., last weekend.  Tyonna Snow led Missouri State with eight points against the Sycamores, as Indiana State's defense held the Lady Bears to a paltry 20.0 percent shooting percentage (11-for-55).  Snow once again led MSU against the Redbirds, going 8-for-19 from the field for 26 points and a team-high seven rebounds.
 
Individually, Kenzie Williams leads the team in scoring at 14.8 points per game, but has missed the team's last five games due to injury.  Snow is second on the squad in scoring (13.7 ppg) and leads the team with 77 steals.  Bry Snow is also averaging in double figures (10.8 ppg) and is Missouri State's top rebounder at 5.6 boards per outing.
 
The Lady Bears are averaging 67.6 points per game, but surrendering 70.2 points per contest, while shooting 39.2 percent from the field, 32.2 percent from three-point land and 66.2 percent from the free throw line.  MSU owns a +1.4 rebounding margin, but is turning the ball over 17.0 times per game for a -0.5 turnover margin.
 
Wichita State holds a narrow, 21-20, lead in the all-time series with Evansville, after defeating the Aces, 66-48, earlier this season in Wichita, Kan.  Missouri State leads the series with UE, 32-10, and has won 13 of the last 15 meetings.  The Lady Bears defeated the Aces, 87-70, earlier this year in Springfield, Mo.
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