Aces women’s basketball to end non-conference play at Loyola Chicago

CHICAGO – The University of Evansville women’s basketball team finishes the non-conference portion of the 2024-25 season in a familiar location.

The Purple Aces returned to the win column this week during their annual Education Day against IU Columbus. After a close first quarter UE cruised to an 84-51 win over the Crimson Pride in the team’s first of two games at the Ford Center this month. Tuesday’s Education Day game against the Crimson Pride had Evansville’s highest home attendance of the season. The Aces won in front of over 2,000 Tri-State area students who brought an enthusiastic atmosphere to the game. It was also UE’s largest home crowd in two years.

Evansville wraps up the non-conference portion of its schedule this weekend. The Aces will visit Loyola for the first time in 30 years as a non-conference opponent. UE last faced the Ramblers in their final season as MVC members in 2022 with the most recent matchup happening at Meeks Family Fieldhouse. Evansville will try for its first win in Chicago since the 2017 season on Saturday at 2 p.m.

Loyola comes into the weekend with a 7-4 overall record and an 0-1 A-10 conference record. The Ramblers are coming off a close overtime win to Chicago State on Tuesday morning for their Field Trip Day game. A 9-0 run for Loyola in overtime along with a made layup in the final seconds from senior guard Jess Finney secured the Ramblers win. Loyola has played two common opponents with the Aces, SIUE and Valparaiso. The Ramblers won both games by single-digit margins while UE beat the Cougars by 13 points.

Three Evansville players had career games against the Crimson Pride on Tuesday. Sophomore forward Claudia Clement (Barcelona, Spain), and freshman guards Avery Kelley (Evansville, Ind. / Memorial HS) and Kaiden Krienhagen (Indianapolis / North Central, HS) all had their highest scoring outings on Tuesday. Kreinhagen led the three career games with 15 points in 31 minutes on the floor. Clement scored eight points on a perfect 100% shooting outing with four field goals. And Kelley added seven with her first two collegiate three pointers along with a free throw.

Freshman guard/forward Elle Snyder (Latrobe, Penn. / Greater Latrobe HS) was also a major part of the Aces 84-51 win earlier this week. Snyder tied her career high six points while setting career highs in rebounds (8) and steals (6). Snyder’s defensive play led UE in steals and was second on the roster in rebounds along with junior Mae Dozier (Louisville, Ky. / Wabash Valley). With an injury to senior forward Anica Skrivan (Trebinje, Bosnia & Herzegovina) in Tuesday’s game, Snyder is likely to see her game average of 13 minutes rise on Saturday.