UE women’s basketball heads to the Big Easy New Orleans Classic

NEW ORLEANS — The University of Evansville women’s basketball team will play during Feast Week for the first time in nine years.

The Purple Aces are still looking for their first road win of the season after another close loss at Lipscomb. UE led the first half of the game, but a slow third quarter and early fourth quarter stalled Evansville’s chance for its first win away from Meeks Family Fieldhouse. Despite not getting a win at Allen Arena, the Aces had their best performance from the floor so far this season. UE shot over 50% against Lipscomb going 32 of 60 from the floor. Evansville’s 53.3% shooting percentage on Saturday was the team’s best shooting performance since February 15th when the Aces beat Southern Illinois at home.

UE will check off a list of firsts in its appearance in the Big Easy New Orleans Classic over the holiday weekend. It will be Evansville’s first time playing in New Orleans as a program. The Aces will
also face two teams they have never played in the program’s 49 seasons in Nicholls and Delaware. The Big Easy New Orleans Classic is UE’s first MTE appearance in almost a decade. Evansville
last participated in a holiday MTE in 2015 at the Cal Poly/ ShareSLO Holiday Tournament in San Luis Obispo, California.

The Aces first opponent of the event is the Nicholls Colonels who are 3-2 on the year. The Colonels have wins over Tulane, Grambling, and Alcorn which was a three-game stretch of victories. Nicholls is led by junior guard Tanita Swift who averages 18 points a game. UE’s second Big Easy game is against the Delaware Blue Hens. Delaware continues its 18-day stretch away from home at the MTE and is looking to get back into the win column after a loss to Providence. The Blue Hens are led by graduate guard Tara Cousins with an average of 10.8 points per game, followed closely by fifth-year guard/forward Rebecca Demeke at 10.5 points per game.

Freshman guard Camryn Runner earned her second MVC Freshman of the Week honor in only three weeks of play. Runner had the Aces best performance by a freshman in a decade with 30 points at Lindenwood to surpass Sara Dickey’s 30-point outing at Southern Illinois in 2014. Runner also had her 5th straight double-digit performance to lead UE in points per game on the season to average 20.6 points in 35 minutes a game.

-www.gopurpleaces.com-