Aces women’s basketball hosts UIC and Valparaiso over the weekend

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The Purple Aces begin a three-game home stand on Friday night

EVANSVILLE, Ind. — The University of Evansville women’s basketball team returns home to Meeks Family Fieldhouse for three straight games starting this weekend.
After a long road trip to Missouri and Illinois, the Purple Aces return to Evansville for their longest home stand of the year. UE kicks off the home stand with two games this weekend against the UIC Flames and the Valparaiso Beacons, starting with the Flames on Friday. The Aces contest against UIC is their annual Pride Night where the first 100 students will get a free Aces Pride shirt before the game.

The Flames come into tomorrow’s game off a thrilling 86-79 overtime win against Illinois State at home. Overall UIC is at .500 in Missouri Valley Conference play and a winning 10-7 overall record. The Flames Valley wins have come against the Redbirds, Bradley, and Southern Illinois with back-to-back wins. UIC is led on offense by junior forward Makiyah Williams who is averaging 12.5 points a game after transferring from Marquette. On defense, the Flames rely on senior guard/forward Jaida McCloud with 6.3 rebounds and 0.6 blocks a game.

Valparaiso secured their first conference win over the weekend in a 79-55 beat down of Bradley at home The Beacons also have a win against Chicago State and an exhibition win against IU Northwest on the season. Valpo will have a game in Terre Haute on Friday before playing UE on Sunday afternoon. The Beacons offense is led by senior guard/forward Leah Earnst with 14.3 points a game. Valparaiso has one other player averaging in double-figures along with Earnst in 5th-year guard Olivia Brown at 11.5 points a game. Brown has just returned to Valpo’s lineup after four games away due to injury.

Evansville struggled to contain Southern Illinois offense in a 99-60 loss on Sunday. The Salukis were able to use their speed on offense to push pass the Aces on their home floor. A bright spot in Sunday’s game was freshman forward Nevaeh Thomas coming a bucket shy of her career-high in points in Carbondale. Thomas led UE in their game against the Salukis with 22 points while also setting a new career high in field goal attempts and blocks. The  forward attempted 15 shots through 31 minutes
and added two blocks under the rim.

The Aces also were on it under Southern Illinois’ rim on Sunday afternoon. Evansville had its best blocking game of Valley play with five shots turned away through 40 minutes. Two players set career highs in blocks while in Carbondale. Thomas had two while junior guard Julia Palomo recorded her first career block on Sunday.

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