EVANSVILLE, Ind. —Â The University of Evansville women’s basketball returns home for the final game of the Tri-State Challenge on Wednesday night.
Evansville’s first road game ended up being an offensive battle against the SIUE Cougars in a 91-83 loss. The Aces had a strong game from behind the arc, shooting 52.4% from three-point range while also shooting 42.9% from the floor. UE’s strong game from three-point range now has them in the national rankings. Evansville’s 11 made three-pointers on Sunday is the most in a year for the Aces since making 14 last season against Eastern Kentucky. Following Sunday’s game, the Aces are shooting 40.5% from behind the arc, ranking them 39th in the nation and third in the MVC.
UE will look to continue its strong three-point shooting against Eastern Kentucky on Wednesday night. The Colonels come into tomorrow’s game with a perfect 3-0 record following an 86-75 win over Northern Kentucky at home. EKU also played SIUE last week, prevailing in overtime at First Community Arena on Thursday 74-72. Leading the Colonels is senior guard Alice Recanati who is averaging 20.7 points, 5.7 rebounds, 4.3 assists, and 2.3 steals per game. Recanati’s 62 points through three games is eighth in the NCAA behind Iowa’s Caitlin Clark as of Monday afternoon.
Four players for Evansville had double-digit outings on Sunday against the Cougars. Sophomore point guard Kynidi Mason Striverson led the team with a career-high 24 points followed by freshman Maggie Hartwig with 23 points including making4 of 4 three-pointers. Guard Alana Striverson and forward Nevaeh Thomas also had strong performances with 13 and 11 points. Mason Striverson currently leads the team in offense averaging 18.5 points a game for fourth in the MVC.
With 23 points and nine rebounds on Sunday against SIUE, freshman Maggie Hartwig had UE’s best performance by a freshman since Abby Feit in 2019-20 against Brescia. It was the best freshman performance against a Division I team since Sarah Dickey scored 30 points against Southern Illinois in 2019. Hartwig in two games for UE is averaging 12.5 points, 6.5 rebounds, and 1.5 blocks.
