UE women’s basketball takes first conference road trip to Iowa

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EVANSVILLE, IND. – The University of Evansville women’s basketball team will get its longest Missouri Valley Conference road trip out of the way early in the year. 
 

Evansville at Northern Iowa | Thursday, Jan. 4  | 6 PM CT
Site | Locations McLeod Center | Cedar Falls, Iowa
Game Coverage Live Stats | ESPN+ | Game Notes
Follow the Aces Women’s Basketball Home Page | Twitter

 

Evansville at Drake | Saturday, Jan. 6  | 2 PM CT
Site | Locations Knapp Center | Des Moines, Iowa
Game Coverage Live Stats | ESPN+ | Game Notes
Follow the Aces Women’s Basketball Home Page | Twitter


Evansville hopes to start 2024 off with a bang by ending an almost decade-long losing streak to the Northern Iowa Panthers. UE’s first Missouri Valley Conference game on the road comes against
the preseason favorites on Thursday evening.

The Panthers come into this week’s game with a lone win against Green Bay after a heartbreaking buzzer-beater loss to Missouri State on Saturday. Despite a 1-9 record, UNI has faced stiff competition in non-conference action. The Panthers have played seven teams within the NET Top 100 and four with a Top 50 NET ranking. On offense, UNI is led by junior point guard Maya McDermott with 13.9 points a game while junior forward Grace Boffeli leads the team on defense with 6.5 rebounds per game. Boffeli has not played in the Panthers’ past four games. 

On Saturday, the Aces will face off against last year’s Hoops in the Heartland Champions, the Drake Bulldogs. The Bulldogs are one of two teams leading the Valley in overall record at 8-4 along with Belmont. Drake won its first conference game of the season against Southern Illinois on the road. The Bulldogs are one of the most effective offenses in the country averaging 82.6 points a game for 20th in the nation and a 49.5% field goal percentage for 11th. Drake is led by point guard Katie Dinnebier’s 19.8 points per game, while junior Anna Miller leads the way on defense with 8.6 rebounds a game.

UE struggled to find its offense in its first MVC game of the year on Saturday night. The Aces cold start led to only 22% shooting from the floor in their conference opener at home in the 66-49 loss. In Saturday’s loss, Evansville didn’t have a field goal in the first quarter. UE’s only points in the first 10 minutes came at the line, as the Aces went 6-of-6 to open the game. Evansville’s first field goal came from point guard Kynidi Mason Striverson in the first 31 seconds of the second quarter.
 
Mason Striverson continues to be the offensive leader for UE after the first Valley game of the season. The sophomore has been averaging just under 16 points through 12 games and is good for fifth in the conference in scoring. The Aces have another player in the Top 5 in the Valley on the defensive side of the ball. Freshman forward Maggie Hartwig is 5th in the MVC in rebounding, averaging 7.9 boards a game.

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