EVANSVILLE - A special weekend for the University of Evansville women's basketball team will see the Aces honor three seniors during their final weekend series of the regular season, welcoming-in No. 23 Missouri State at 6 PM on Friday and Saturday inside Meeks Family Fieldhouse in Evansville.
Last Time Out: UNI 96, Evansville 48
- In the series finale, the University of Evansville women's basketball team dropped a road MVC contest to UNI, 96-48, on Sunday inside the McLeod Center in Cedar Falls, Iowa.
- Leading Evansville were junior A'Niah Griffin and sophomore Abby Feit with 14 points each, while freshman Rylie Stephens narrowly missed double-figures with eight points on the day.
- For the Panthers, Kam Finley led UNI with 17 points as one of five Panthers to finish in double-digits.
- Evansville got off to a much better start on Sunday than it did Saturday taking an early 4-3 lead on the Panthers after buckets from senior Jada Poland and Griffin.
- Following the Aces early lead, UNI took back the lead with a 16-2 run as the Panthers owned a 24-10 advantage after the first quarter.
- Evansville held strong with UNI through much of the second period as the Panthers narrowly out-scored the Aces 19-16 in the quarter.
- The offense for the Panthers repeated its performance from Saturday's game in the second half as UNI scored 53 points in the final 20 minutes on a 60.7% (17-28) shooting performance.
- Of the Panthers 17 second half field goals, 13 came from beyond the arc for UNI. The Panthers limited the Aces to 22 second-half points in the 96-48 win for UNI.
- In the contest, UNI set an MVC record for most three-pointers made in a single-game, hitting 21 of its 37 attempts from the arc.
- The 21 made threes also tied for eighth-most in a single game in NCAA history.
Previewing the Matchup: No. 23 Missouri State
- Evansville and Missouri State are meeting for the 58th time in series history on Friday with the Bears owning a 43-14 advantage in the all-time series.
- The two sides last met on Feb. 21, 2020 as the Bears captured a 76-62 win over the Aces in Springfield, Mo.
- The Aces last win at home over Missouri State came in a 72-65 win on March 1, 2014 as Kat Taylor scored 22 points to lead the Aces to the seven-point win.
- Missouri State looks to complete the fifth undefeated season in conference play in MVC women's basketball history and the third in the last five seasons after Drake put together back-to-back 18-0 campaigns in Valley play in 2016-17 and 2017-18.
- The Aces last two meetings against teams ranked in the top 25 have both come against Missouri State with the last meeting coming in last season's Feb. 21 matchup between the two sides when the Bears were ranked 16th in the nation.
- Evansville looks to bounce back offensive after being held to an average of 44.5 points per game in a weekend series at UNI. The Aces will be facing one of the toughest defenses in the nation this weekend as the Bears sit 33rd in the nation and tops in the MVC in scoring defense, allowing just 57.5 points per contest.
- A win would give Evansville its most MVC wins since ending the season with an 8-10 conference record in 2016-17.
Getting to the Line
- Evansville currently sits inside the top 75 in the nation in free-throw attempts.
- The Aces have attempted 396 free throws on the season, 62nd in the nation and second-best in the MVC.
Saluting the Seniors
- This weekend, Evansville will salute three seniors who have helped the program. Jada Poland, Lola Reed, and Kayla Casteel will all be honored for their contributions to the program.
- The three have combined to playing 149 games, making 73 starts and combining for 844 points in the white & purple.
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