Aces travel to Florida for opening tournaments

 EVANSVILLE, Ind. – With their sights set on defending the Missouri Valley Conference Championship, the University of Evansville women’s golf team will begin its spring schedule next week at the Benbow Invitational.

Set for Monday and Tuesday, the tournament will feature 18 holes each day.  Jacksonville Beach Golf Club in Jacksonville, Fla. will host the event with par set for 71 and the yardage coming in at 5,913.

It will be a full field for the ladies with 13 other teams set to play including: Butler, Eastern Illinois, Eastern Michigan, Indiana State, IUPUI, Monmouth, Purdue Fort Wayne, Radford, Savannah State, Troy, Valparaiso, Western Illinois and Western Michigan.

Evansville had a strong fall campaign, earning top five team finishes in three of its five events including a tie for fourth place at the Roseann Schwartz Invite.  Mallory Russell completed the fall with the lowest stroke average on the team, averaging 77.20 strokes over 10 rounds.  She shot a season-low 73 in the opening round of the Butler Fall Invitational while her top finish was a tie for sixth at the Briar Ridge Invitational.

Caitlin O’Donnell was second on the team with a 79.33 average and tied for UE’s low round of the year – a 72 in round one at Butler.  Her performance at the Butler Fall Invitational was one of the best in her career with her rounds finishing at 72-75-73 on her way to a 7^th out of 82 participants.  Just behind O’Donnell was Alyssa McMinn.  She finished the fall with a 79.54 average and opened the season with a tie for 10^th at the Roseann Schwartz Invite.  The final round of the event saw her shoot a season-low 74.

Allison Enchelmayer finished with a 79.69 mark.  She matched O’Donnell’s low score of 72 in the fall.  That also came in the same tournament and round as O’Donnell – at the Butler Fall Invitational.  Her top finish was a tie for 14^th at the Briar Ridge Invitational.

UE drops 81-59 contest to Valparaiso

 

1. LOUIS – Fifth-year players Noah Frederking and Evan Kuhlman recorded 13 points apiece in Thursday’s Arch Madness game that saw the University of Evansville men’s basketball team fall to Valparaiso by a final of 81-59 inside the Enterprise Center.

Freshman Blake Sisley matched the team-high with 13 tallies while Shamar Givance finished the night with 10 for the Purple Aces.  Frederking led the team with six rebounds while Givance dished out a game-high six assists.  Valparaiso was led by 18-point efforts from Kobe King and Sheldon Edwards.

“Valpo moved the ball very well in the first half and made us pay for not getting to the shooters,” UE head coach Todd Lickliter said after the contest.   “To our guys credit, we came out in the second half and cut the deficit to four.  It was one of those games that we did not have enough to make the run.”

After Valparaiso jumped out to an 8-2 lead, Noah Frederking knocked down a triple to make it a 3-point game.  The Beacons knocked down their first four outside attempts to take a 16-7 advantage at the first media time out of the night.  At the 9:05 mark, the Valpo lead reached its highest of the half at 28-13 on a dunk by Ben Krikke.

Evansville responded with an 11-5 stretch that cut the gap down to nine points with Shamar Givance and Blaise Beauchamp supplying 3-pointers.  Over the last six minutes of the period, the Beacons added a pair to the lead and took a 43-32 advantage into the break.

Blake Sisley opened the second half with a hook shot to mark the start of a 7-0 UE run, which chopped the VU lead to just four points.  Evan Kuhlman knocked down a 3-pointer before Givance forced a steal and turned it into another field goal to make it a 43-39 game just over two minutes into the final half.

Six in a row from Valparaiso pushed their lead back to 10 and they would stretch it out to 13 points when a Thomas Kithier layup made it a 65-52 game with 7:15 remaining.  Four minutes later, Valpo’s 10^th triple of the game gave them their largest lead at 16 points (73-57) before finishing the evening with the 81-59 victory.

Valparaiso shot 58.3% on the night with the Aces finishing at 44.2%.  The Beacons completed the game with a 31-20 edge on the boards.

Jawaun Newton made his return to the floor after missing the last eight games and played seven minutes.  He hit a free throw and grabbed a rebound.

EDWARDSVILLE, Ill.—For 16 minutes, it looked as if University of Southern Indiana Women’s Basketball would have its hands full in its Great Lakes Valley Conference Tournament quarterfinal matchup against No. 8-seeded Southwest Baptist University.
 
The Screaming Eagles, however, closed the first half with a 9-2 run and then proceeded to shoot a blistering 70.4 percent (19-27) from the field in the second half as they won, 92-59, in a route, to advance to the semifinals for the first time since 2018.
 
USI (23-4) found itself in a battle with the Bearcats early in the contest as the two teams played to a 15-15 draw through the first eight minutes of the opening period. The Eagles used a 6-0 run to close the opening quarter and led 32-25 midway through the second period.
 
Southwest Baptist (16-14), however, scored five straight points to cut USI’s lead to just two points (32-3) with four minutes to play in the opening half.
 
Sophomore forward Meredith Raley (Haubstadt, Indiana) hit a three-pointer, however, as USI went up by five; then following a basket by junior forward Hannah Haithcock (Washington Courthouse, Ohio), Raley scored again on a layup to put USI up, 39-32, with just over two minutes left in the half.
 
Fifth-year senior guard Emma DeHart (Indianapolis, Indiana) followed a Southwest Baptist free throw with a jumper with just over a minute left in the half, and USI went into the break with a 41-33 lead.
 
Junior guard Addy Blackwell (Bloomington, Indiana), who hit two three-pointers early in the first quarter, opened the third period with a quick basket, but Raley banked in a three-pointer to give USI a 13-point lead with just a minute gone by in the second half.
 
The Eagles saw their lead briefly shrink back to eight points on a couple occasions throughout the next two-plus minutes, but pair of three-pointers by fifth-year senior guard Ashley Hunter (Flossmoor, Illinois) jump-started a 15-5 run which left the Eagles with a comfortable 65-47 advantage heading into the fourth period.
 
USI, which went 10-for-10 from the field in the final 10 minutes of the game, scored eight straight points to begin the final quarter and extend its lead to 26 points with just over six minutes to play. The Eagles’ lead ballooned to as much as 38 points as junior forward Tara Robbe (Wildwood, Missouri) scored on a layup with just under three minutes to play to cap off what turned out to be a 40-10 second-half run.
 
Haithcock and Raley each had 15 points to lead the Eagles, who had nine different players finish with at least six points. Blackwell added 12 points and matched Raley with a game-high seven rebounds, while Hunter finished with eight points as USI’s bench outscored Southwest Baptist’s reserves, 51-15.
 
Freshman guard Vanessa Shafford (Linton, Indiana) added seven points and a career-high seven assists.
 
USI, which out-rebounded the Bearcats, 40-30, also connected on a season-high 57.9 percent (11-19) of its three-point attempts, all while outscoring Southwest Baptist, 38-14, in the paint.
 
Freshman guard Kelsey Blakemore paced the Bearcats with a game-high 17 points, while senior guard Kyleigh Vaught added 11 points and five assists.
 
USI returns to action Saturday at noon when it takes on the winner of Friday’s quarterfinal matchup between No. 4-seeded Truman State University and No. 5-seeded Lewis University. The GLVC Championship game is Sunday at 1 p.m.
 

UE Drops 81-59 Contest To Valparaiso

 LOUIS – Fifth-year players Noah Frederking and Evan Kuhlman recorded 13 points apiece in Thursday’s Arch Madness game that saw the University of Evansville men’s basketball team fall to Valparaiso by a final of 81-59 inside the Enterprise Center.

Freshman Blake Sisley matched the team-high with 13 tallies while Shamar Givance finished the night with 10 for the Purple Aces.  Frederking led the team with six rebounds while Givance dished out a game-high six assists.  Valparaiso was led by 18-point efforts from Kobe King and Sheldon Edwards.

“Valpo moved the ball very well in the first half and made us pay for not getting to the shooters,” UE head coach Todd Lickliter said after the contest.   “To our guys credit, we came out in the second half and cut the deficit to four.  It was one of those games that we did not have enough to make the run.”

After Valparaiso jumped out to an 8-2 lead, Noah Frederking knocked down a triple to make it a 3-point game.  The Beacons knocked down their first four outside attempts to take a 16-7 advantage at the first media time out of the night.  At the 9:05 mark, the Valpo lead reached its highest of the half at 28-13 on a dunk by Ben Krikke.

Evansville responded with an 11-5 stretch that cut the gap down to nine points with Shamar Givance and Blaise Beauchamp supplying 3-pointers.  Over the last six minutes of the period, the Beacons added a pair to the lead and took a 43-32 advantage into the break.

Blake Sisley opened the second half with a hook shot to mark the start of a 7-0 UE run, which chopped the VU lead to just four points.  Evan Kuhlman knocked down a 3-pointer before Givance forced a steal and turned it into another field goal to make it a 43-39 game just over two minutes into the final half.

Six in a row from Valparaiso pushed their lead back to 10 and they would stretch it out to 13 points when a Thomas Kithier layup made it a 65-52 game with 7:15 remaining.  Four minutes later, Valpo’s 10^th triple of the game gave them their largest lead at 16 points (73-57) before finishing the evening with the 81-59 victory.

Valparaiso shot 58.3% on the night with the Aces finishing at 44.2%.  The Beacons completed the game with a 31-20 edge on the boards.

Jawaun Newton made his return to the floor after missing the last eight games and played seven minutes.  He hit a free throw and grabbed a rebound.