Aces women’s basketball to host Bradley and Illinois State

EVANSVILLE, Ind. — The University of Evansville women’s basketball team returns to the River City for its final home games of February this week.

It was another tough road weekend for the Purple Aces with losses at Southern Illinois and Missouri State. UE came a basket and a minute, and a half shy of a comeback win at Southern Illinois. While a depleted Evansville bench wasn’t able to keep up with the Lady Bears in the 86-57 loss on Sunday.

The Aces will try to turn their luck around back in Meeks Family Fieldhouse this week. UE will face the Bradley Braves first on Thursday, February 13 to end the Braves’ current series winning streak. Evansville came a basket shy of picking up a road win against Bradley to start 2025 with a 45-43 loss at Renaissance Coliseum. The Braves currently have three wins in conference play while still being led by senior guard Solei Barnes at 15.4 points a game clip.

The Illinois State Redbirds look to break a two-game losing skid during its Indiana trip this week. Illinois State will have its first chance at Indiana State before coming to Evansville for the team’s ninth win of conference play. The Redbirds had a tough week in Iowa with a close loss at Drake and a 20-point blowout at Northern Iowa. Illinois State has four players averaging double figures on the season while junior guard Addison Martin leads the Missouri Valley Conference in field goal percentage at 61.6% for 11.4 points a game. On defense, the Redbirds have one of the top five shot blockers in the MVC in freshman Doneelah Washington who averages over a block a game.

For the first time this season the Aces had the same number of turnovers as their opponent. UE was able to force 17 turnovers from the Salukis on Friday night. Evansville forced almost half of SIU’s turnovers in the final 10 minutes helping to get the game back within a possession. The Aces also drew 10 fouls in the 4th quarter from Southern to get to the free throw line.

UE’s offense found its most success in the second half during Missouri Valley Conference action. Evansville is averaging 33.3 points in the second half versus only 22.1 points in the first half. In 12 games of Valley action the Aces’ best scoring quarter is the 4th with an average of 17.5 points in the final 10 minutes of MVC games. UE’s defense has improved under the glass through the month of February. Evansville entered the month averaging 32.8 rebounds a game. In four games the Aces have improved by almost two boards at 34.2 rebounds a game after outrebounding Valpo by 11 under the glass. UE is in the middle of the pack in most rebounding categories with team offensive rebounds being their highest placement at 7th with 10.1 a game.

Freshman guard Camryn Runner (Cicero, Ind. / Hamilton Heights HS) led Evansville on the road last week. The freshman was the only Aces to have double-figure outings in both games, averaging 19 points for the week. Runner also averaged seven rebounds and two assists in 32 minutes of play.