The Purple Aces had two players score in double-figures in their home opener Tuesday night
Competing against a team that returned all its leading scorers, the Purple Aces held the Bison below their 2022-23 average in the first half on Tuesday night. UE’s standout player was sophomore guard Kynidi Mason Striverson scoring 13 points with four rebounds, four assists, and six fouls drawn. Graduate student center Barbora Tomancova also made it to double figures with 10 points and led Evansville in rebounds with six.
“I thought in the first half especially we got good shots but we just didn’t make them,” said Head Coach Robyn Scherr-Wells following the game. “We had opportunities and we were getting more looks, we just didn’t quite capitalize on them. There were some things defensively that we didn’t do well that were part of our game plan. We knew some of the things that they were going to do and we just didn’t execute well enough on the defensive end of the floor.
“So you put together not making enough shots when getting good looks with a few too many easy buckets down the middle of the floor. It just made for a tough night. We just need to clean some things up. But there are still enough positives for us to take from that game. I think we grew in our offensive chemistry and flow. We just didn’t make enough shots but I still think we had some positives on offense.”
It was a back-and-forth game early between the Aces and Lipscomb with three buckets in the first minute. The lead changed four times in the first eight minutes with UE having their largest lead out of the media timeout with under three minutes to go. Evansville took the lead on a jump shot from forward Celine DuPont while Tomancova made a jump shot off a turnover two minutes later. But a six-point run gave the Bison the lead for the rest of the quarter. Mason Striverson ended the first on offense for the Aces making two free throws for only a four-point deficit.
UE struggled early in the second as Lipscomb made the first two baskets in two minutes. An early timeout for Evansville provided some life with a quick second-chance layup from Tomancova. But brief interruptions from the Bison made it difficult for Evansville to get a rally going. The Aces excelled at the line in the second quarter making four shots in two trips early to keep Lipscomb within single digits. But eight points from the Bison to close out the first half had UE down by 14 after 20 minutes.
Evansville’s defense began to click in the second half, keeping Lipscomb from making any sort of run down the stretch of the third quarter. With a double-digit deficit, the Aces tried to match the Bisons shots but couldn’t get more than a four-point run going at any one time. UE did close out the quarter on a run, making it only a 14 point game with 10 minutes left on the clock.
In the final frame, Evansville had its best offensive quarter of the night making eight of its 14 shots. This included a six-point run early in the quarter from the Aces posts players. But Lipscomb responded with a six-point run of their own, making it an almost 20 point game. Another brief run from the Bison put the game out of reach for UE, ending the game in a 77-58 loss.
Overall the Aces were 22 of 26 from the floor for 34.9% shooting while excelling at the charity stripe missing only one free throw. Evansville saw plenty of production from its bench with non-starters scoring 21 of UE’s 58 points. On defense, the Aces pulled down 36 boards with six steals and three blocks while having nine assists on the offensive side of the ball.
Evansville faces its first true road test of the season this weekend. The Aces make the trip over the border to Edwardsville, Ill. to take on the SIUE Cougars. Tip-off from First Community Arena is set for 1 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 12.
