University of Southern Indiana Women’s Basketball closes the 2019-20 regular-season this week as it travels to Louisville, Kentucky, to take on Bellarmine University Thursday at 4:45 p.m. before hosting the University of Indianapolis Saturday at 1 p.m. for Senior Day at Screaming Eagles Arena.
Both Great Lakes Valley Conference games this week will be aired live on 95.7 The Spin as well as the GLVC Sports Network, while live stats, audio and video can be accessed at GoUSIEagles.com.
The Screaming Eagles (17-7, 13-5 GLVC) are looking to rebound from a tough 74-58 home loss to Lewis University this past Saturday. Senior guard Ashley Johnson had 21 points to lead the Eagles, while freshman forward Hannah Haithcock added 15 points.
Johnson currently leads the Eagles with 14.1 points and 3.8 assists per game, while junior guard Emma DeHart is contributing 11.3 points per contest. Haithcock is averaging 10.9 points and 5.0 rebounds per appearance, while sophomore forward Ashlynn Brown is chipping in 6.9 points and a team-high 6.1 rebounds per outing.
USI will honors its three seniors—Johnson, guard Kiara Moses and guard/forward Morgan Sherwood—following Saturday’s game against Indianapolis.
USI Women’s Basketball Notes
• Seniors to be honored. USI Women’s Basketball will honors its three seniors—guards Ashley Johnson and Kiara Moses and guard/forward Morgan Sherwood—at the conclusion of Saturday’s game against Indianapolis. The trio has combined to play 241 games during their NCAA careers, making 77 starts and racking up 4,179 minutes of playing time, 1,299 points, 583 rebounds, 372 assists, 240 steals and 38 blocks.
• Eagles win streak ends at six as USI settles for weekend split. USI saw its season-long six-game winning streak come to an end as the Screaming Eagles were forced to settle for the weekend split. USI began the week by rallying from a 10-point second-half deficit to defeat host Illinois Springfield, 69-61, on Thursday. The Eagles rallied from 14 down to tie Lewis at 45-45, the Flyers scored 29 points in the final nine minutes to hand USI a 74-58 home setback.
• Last week’s leaders. Johnson led USI with 19.5 points, 3.0 assists and 4.0 steals per game last week, while freshman forward Hannah Haithcock added 11.5 points and 6.5 rebounds per contest. Sophomore forward Ashlynn Brown finished with 6.0 points and a team-high 10.0 rebounds per game.
• Another rare loss. USI had just seven turnovers against Lewis, marking the second straight loss for USI when committing fewer than 10 turnovers in a game. The Eagles had nine turnovers in their loss Missouri-St. Louis, marking the first time since March 3, 2017, that the Eagles had lost a game when committing fewer than 10 turnovers—USI was 2-0 this season and had won seven straight games when limiting its turnovers to fewer than 10. The Eagles are now 19-6 under Head Coach Rick Stein when committing fewer than 10 turnovers, including 15-4 since the 2013-14 campaign.
• 11-minute spurts. Johnson had a pair of memorable 11-minute spurts this past weekend. She started by scoring 16 of her game-high 18 points in the final 11 minutes of USI’s win over Illinois Springfield on Thursday. She scored 17 of her team-high 21 points during the first 11 minutes of the second half of USI’s loss to Lewis, helping the Eagles overcome a 14-point deficit to tie the Flyers at 45-45.
• Inside the numbers. The Eagles would rather forget last week’s shooting effort, especially their first-half performances against Illinois Springfield and Lewis. Against the Prairie Starts, USI shot just 29.7 percent (11-37) from the field and were 0-of-9 from three-point range in the first 20 minutes. They were just 8-of-30 (.267) from the field and 0-for-3 from three-point range in the first half against Lewis.
• Comeback warriors. Thursday’s game against Illinois Springfield marked the fourth time this year that the Eagles have rallied from a double-digit deficit to earn a win and the third time they have rallied from 10-or-more points in the second half. Despite losing, USI trailed Lewis by 14 in the first and half 12 at the break before rallying back to tie the game at 45 in the fourth quarter.
• Eagles ranked in region. USI is sixth in the first NCAA II Midwest Region ranking of the year. The Eagles are one of five GLVC teams in the rankings, which can be found on page eight of the printable notes. The next ranking is due out Wednesday.
• Where they stand. Heading into the final week of the regular-season, the Eagles are currently third in the GLVC Points Ratings System (PRS), which determines the eight participants as well as the seeding for the GLVC Tournament. The complete ratings as well as the GLVC PRS details can be found on page eight of the printable notes.
• In the GLVC statistical rankings. Entering this week’s games, the Eagles currently have six players ranked among the league’s statistical leaders. Complete lists can be found on page 16 of the printable notes.
–Ashlynn Brown ranks 11th in defensive rebounds, 13th in blocks and 15 in total rebounds.
–Emma DeHart ranks 16th in minutes played and 26th in scoring.
–Hannah Haithcock ranks 27th in minutes played and 30th in scoring.
–Ashley Johnson is in the top 15 of six statistical rankings, including steals (4th), assists (5th), assist-to-turnover ratio (9th), scoring (13th), minutes played (13th and free throw percentage (14th).
–Kiara Moses ranks 11th in steals.
–Audrey Turner ranks 11th in blocks.
• Roaring 20s. Freshman forward Hannah Haithcock became the fourth different USI Women’s Basketball player to reach the 20-point plateau in a single game. She joins senior guards Ashley Johnson and Kiara Moses as well as junior guard Emma DeHart in accomplishing that feat.
• Double-figures. USI has had nine different players reach double figures in the scoring column this year, with eight different players scoring at least 10 points in multiple games.
• About Bellarmine. Junior guard Breia Torrens averages 13.3 points per game to lead the Knights (15-10, 10-8 GLVC), who had a four-game winning streak come to an end with their 93-70 loss to Maryville last Saturday. Torrens had 20 points in Bellarmine’s 66-45 win over USI in January.
• Previous meeting. The Eagles were held to just 3-of-19 (.158) shooting and 10 points throughout the final 11 minutes of the game as Bellarmine turned a 39-35 lead into a 21-point win. Johnson had 13 points to lead USI, which was held to just 31.0 percent (18-58) shooting and 14.3 percent (3-21) from behind the arc.
• About Indianapolis. Senior guard Laura Thomas averages 16.4 points to lead the Greyhounds (18-8, 11-7 GLVC), who snapped a two-game skid with their 90-75 win over Missouri S&T last Saturday. Thomas had a team-high 15 points in UIndy’s 75-64 loss to USI in January.
• Previous meeting. USI, which trailed 9-0 out of the gates, erased deficits of 23-13 and 43-32 to earn the 11-point road win over the Greyhounds in January. Johnson and DeHart combined for 39 points as the Eagles earned their fifth-straight win over their in-state rivals.
• Record book watch. The Eagles have two players making moves inside the USI Women’s Basketball Record Books:
–Emma DeHart ranks No. 44 all-time at USI with 619 career points;
–Ashley Johnson ranks No. 12 all-time at USI with 223 career assists, No. 15 with 145 steals and No. 41 with 661 career points.
• Magic Mark: 75 points. The Eagles are 419-77 (.845) all-time when scoring at least 75 points. USI is 292-28 (.913) since 1996-97 when reaching the 75-point plateau.
