The Purple Aces visit the Breslin Center for the first time in 16 years
EAST LANSING, Mich. —Â The University of Evansville women’s basketball team hits the road for its longest road trip yet to Michigan State.
Evansville’s comeback against the Eastern Kentucky Colonels ended just short as they fell in the final game of the Tri-State Challenge on Wednesday evening. The Aces fought to the final buzzer in the 77-75 loss after two strong offensive games. UEÂ had its best defensive game of the season so far against the Colonels. Evansville outrebounded EKU, pulling down 41 boards while also picking up 9 steals and blocking 2 shots. The Aces also drew 29 fouls from the Colonels, giving themselves 33 attempts at the free-throw line.
Sunday’s game will be only the second time in program history that Evansville has played Michigan State. UE’s prior visit to East Lansing came in the 2007-08 season as part of the Preseason WNIT where the Aces played three games against Marshall, Western Kentucky, and Michigan St. The Spartans come into tomorrow’s game as the winner of the previous contest by a 20-point margin.
Michigan State hasn’t lost a game yet and has spent all three of its first games at the Breslin Center. The Spartans are coming off a record contest against Detroit Mercy after shooting 70.9% from the field on the Titans. Michigan State also tied the school assist record with 34, led by junior guard DeeDee Hagemann. Hagemann scored a career-high 24 points in the Spartans 105-44 win over Detroit Mercy.
Early in the season, UE is getting strong performances out of its underclassmen on the roster. All of Evansville’s top three scorers are underclassmen, led by sophomore point guard Kynidi Mason Striverson. Along with Mason Striverson, the Aces are getting production from their freshman forwards Neveah Thomas and Maggie Hartwig. Both newcomers put up double-digit performances over the last two games along with a double-double each.
Thomas led the team on Wednesday night against EKU with a career-high 24-point performance. She just edged out Hartwig’s monster game against SIUE only three days prior as the best freshman performance against a Division I team in almost a decade. Along with a big offensive performance, Thomas also had eight rebounds, one steal, and one block for an all-around game.
