University of Southern Indiana Women’s Basketball begins a four-game road trip Thursday when it visits the University of Missouri-St. Louis for a Great Lakes Valley Conference contest Thursday at 5:30 p.m. The Screaming Eagles finish the first half of their four-game swing Saturday at 1 p.m. when they visit league-newcomer Lindenwood University Saturday at 1 p.m. in St. Charles, Missouri.
Both games this week will be aired on 95.7 The Spin as well as the GLVC Sports Network, while live stats, audio and video can be accessed at GoUSIEagles.com.
USI (11-5, 7-3 GLVC) is coming off a 65-41 win over visiting Quincy University this past Saturday. Senior guard Ashley Johnson and sophomore forward Ashlynn Brown each had 12 points to lead the Eagles, who went 4-1 during their “five-games-in-10-days” stretch.
Johnson currently leads the Eagles with 14.3 points and 3.8 assists per game, while Brown is chipping in 7.7 points and a team-high 5.4 rebounds per contest. Junior guard Emma DeHart and freshman forward Haithcock are averaging 11.3 and 9.9 points per game, respectively.
USI Women’s Basketball Notes
• Eagles go 2-1 last week. USI Women’s Basketball went 2-1 last week as its sandwiched wins over McKendree and Quincy around a loss to Truman State. Senior guard Ashley Johnson averaged 14.0 points and 3.3 assists per game to lead the Eagles last week, while sophomore forward Ashlynn Brown averaged a team-high 5.3 rebounds per contest. Junior guard Emma DeHart finished with a team-high 3.3 steals per appearance.
• Defense leads Eagles to win over Quincy. The Eagles ended their week with a dominating 65-41 win over Quincy. USI held the Hawks to just 27.7 percent from the field, while forcing them into 27 turnovers. Offensively, the Eagles racked up a season-high 19 assists, while committing just eight turnovers. Johnson and Brown each had 12 points to lead the Eagles, while Johnson added six assists. Senior guard Kiara Moses racked up eight rebounds and freshman guard Addy Blackwell had a season-high five steals.
• Under 50. USI’s defensive effort against Quincy marked the third time this year the Eagles have held an opponent to less than 50 points.
• Big run dooms Eagles. USI found itself on the wrong end of a 26-0 first-half run en route to an 89-59 GLVC setback to visiting Truman State Thursday evening. USI trailed 20-19 with a minute left in the first quarter, but the Bulldogs scored five straight points to end the frame before scoring 21 straight points to begin the second period. Johnson had a team-high 16 points to lead the Eagles.
• Strong defensive effort lifts Eagles to third straight win. USI forced 29 turnovers en route to a 72-51 GLVC victory over visiting McKendree last Monday. Johnson had a game-high 14 points to go along with three assists and five steals, while junior center Audrey Turner finished with a career-high 13 points, seven rebounds and four blocks. Freshman forward Hannah Haithcock had 12 points, while junior guard Emma DeHart finished with 10 points and a career-high seven steals.
• Crazy free throw stat. USI averaged just 8.0 free throw attempts in the last two games after averaging 27.0 free throw attempts in its previous three contests. USI was a combined 10-of-16 from the charity stripe against Truman State and Quincy after going 63-of-81 from the free throw line against Rockhurst, William Jewell and McKendree.
• Another off the wall stat. The Eagles went a combined 14-of-38 from three-point range against Quincy and Truman State after going a combined 5-of-39 from downtown in their three previous contests.
• Double-figures. USI has had nine different players reach double figures in the scoring column this year, with seven different players scoring at least 10 points in multiple games.
• Five steals. Freshman guard Addy Blackwell became the third different USI Women’s Basketball player to record at least five steals in a game this year. Senior guard Ashley Johnson had a career-high tying five steals in USI’s win over Indianapolis and, once again, in USI’s win over McKendree; while junior guard Emma DeHart racked up a career-high seven steals in USI’s win over McKendree last week.
• Haithcock reaches double-figures again. Freshman forward Hannah Haithcock had 10 points in USI’s win over Quincy, marking the ninth time this season that she has reached double-figures in the scoring column. She needs one more double-figure scoring performance to match the total that former USI standouts Anna Hackert and Kaydie Grooms recorded in their freshmen campaigns and four to match Amie Newhart’s freshman total of 13. Under Head Coach Rick Stein, USI has had six freshmen score in double-figures at least 10 times in a season, with the most being Jessica Stuckman’s 20 in 2000-01. Lauren Parrish reached double-figures 12 times as a freshman in 2003-04, while Keisha Collins reached double-figures in the scoring column 18 times in 2005-06.
• Moses matches career-high. Senior guard Kiara Moses matched her career-high with eight rebounds in the Eagles’ win over Quincy. She also had eight boards in USI’s win over Southwest Baptist earlier this year.
• Balanced contributions. USI got scoring contributions from nine of its 10 players that saw the court in USI’s win over Quincy Saturday, with seven of those players scoring at least five points. All but one player had an assist in the victory.
• About Missouri-St. Louis. Senior guard Laura Szorenyi and junior forward Alex LaPorta are averaging 12.5 and 10.7 points per game, respectively, to lead the Tritons, who are 8-11 overall and 3-7 in GLVC play after ending a two-game losing streak with a 71-60 road win over Lewis Saturday.
• About Lindenwood. The Lions, an NCAA II Central Region Tournament participant a year ago, are in their first year as a GLVC member institution. Senior forward Kallie Bildner is averaging 21.1 points and 10.9 rebounds to lead Lindenwood, which is 10-6 overall and 6-4 in the GLVC following a 2-1 record last week. Lindenwood, which hosts McKendree Thursday, has five players averaging in double-figures on the year.
• Screaming Eagles Arena. The Eagles’ game against Central Missouri marked the first-ever regular-season basketball game in Screaming Eagles Arena. USI Women’s Basketball played in the Physical Activities Center from 1980-81 to 2018-19, posting a 363-194 record all-time at the PAC, including a 217-81 record under Head Coach Rick Stein.
• Magic Mark: 75 points. The Eagles are 417-77 (.844) all-time when scoring at least 75 points. USI is 290-28 (.912) since 1996-97 when reaching the 75-point plateau.
