EVANSVILLE, Ind. – University of Southern Indiana Women’s Basketball battled Murray State University to an exciting, competitive battle on Friday night at Liberty Arena, but the Screaming Eagles came up short, 79-77, after the Racers hit a game-winning layup at the buzzer.

USI Women’s Basketball (1-1) found itself in another tight contest against Murray State (1-0) on Friday night, just like last year’s battle in Murray, Kentucky. Neither side built a lead bigger than single digits on Friday night. USI led by as many as seven in the first quarter, while Murray State’s largest lead was nine points in the middle of the fourth quarter.

Both teams shot for 42 percent from the floor in the game. USI went 32-76 compared to the Racers’ 22-52 effort in shooting the basketball. A significant difference came at the free-throw line. USI was 8-13 at the stripe, while Murray State racked up 34 attempts and made 30 free throws. The Racers won the battle on the glass by four, 42-38.

Individually, senior guard Ali Saunders returned to the court and paced the Screaming Eagles with 23 points on 10-18 shooting with eight assists. The 23 points are a personal best for Saunders since putting on the Screaming Eagles uniform. Right behind Saunders was junior guard Sophia Loden with a career-best 21 points on 8-15 shooting and a career-high 12 rebounds, marking Loden’s first career double-double performance. Junior forward Amiyah Buchanan nearly joined Loden with a double-double, recording 10 points and nine boards.

The Screaming Eagles got off to a solid start on both ends of the court, jumping out to a quick 8-1 advantage three and a half minutes in. USI limited Murray State to only one field goal for five-plus minutes in. Loden tallied the first four points for USI while also crashing the boards early. Following the first-quarter media timeout, the Racers charged back. However, sophomore guard Lexi Sepulveda came off the bench with five points in the final two minutes to help USI go ahead 15-14 after the opening quarter.

Murray State went on a small run to begin the second quarter, building a five-point lead, 24-19, just over four minutes into the frame. Saunders made a pair of field goals, while junior guard Shannon Blacher drained a three later in the second to propel USI back in front, 28-25, with three minutes to go in the first half. USI went ahead by as many as five in the final 90 seconds before Murray State responded to tie the game at 32 going into halftime.

After a quick bucket by junior forward Chloe Gannon to begin the second half, Murray State went on an 8-0 run to take a 42-34 advantage. Near the midway point of the third quarter, the Screaming Eagles cut the deficit down to three, 45-42, thanks to back-to-back buckets from Saunders. Murray State tried to pull away again, but once again, USI climbed back. With a minute left, Buchanan drilled a straightaway triple to tie the game at 51. The Racers ended up taking a 55-53 lead into the fourth period.

Murray State went on a 6-0 run to begin the fourth quarter before Gannon scored a layup two minutes into the quarter to end the run. While the Racers’ lead grew to nine, 64-55, with seven minutes to go. The Screaming Eagles continue to show no quit, as Loden cashed in to reach a new career high, and Buchanan converted a three-point play to make the score 66-63 in favor of the Racers with under five minutes to play. The contest wound up coming down to the wire. As Murray State led by three, 77-74, with just under 10 seconds left, Saunders netted a game-tying triple with two seconds on the clock. Following a timeout and advancement of the basketball, the Racers scored a game-winning layup at the buzzer.

MARTIN, Tenn.- University of Southern Indiana Volleyball earned the sweep at the University of Tennessee at Martin on Friday night, to move to 9-4 in Ohio Valley Conference play and 13-12 overall. With the win, USI has officially earned its spot in the OVC tournament.
 
Friday’s victory marks the first time the Screaming Eagles have won on the road at Skyhawks Fieldhouse.
 
Set 1: USI 25, UTM 21
The Screaming Eagles started strong, taking a quick lead with a five-point serving run from junior Ashby Willis. Freshman setter Aysa Thomas dished out nine assists, two digs, and snuck in two kills for the team. Willis led the offense with four kills, followed by freshman Carley Wright with three.
 
Set 2: USI 25, UTM 19
The Skyhawks put up more of a fight at the start of the second set, holding the lead for the first 13 points before the Eagles took it back. Willis continued to find the court consistently, tallying four more kills, along with junior Leah Coleman, who also added four. Sophomore libero Audrey Small picked up four digs to double her first-set number.
 
Set 3:
With some quick push and pull to start the final set, the Eagles took control of the lead by the fifth point. Three USI players tallied three kills in the set, including Coleman, Willis, and senior Bianca Anderson, who made zero errors to hit a .600 percentage. Every Eagle player who took the court picked up a dig in the final set, led by Willis with five.
 
 
For the game, Thomas finished with 30 assists, five digs, and tied her career-high with five kills. Willis finished with her 13^th double-double of the season with 11 kills and 10 digs. As a team, USI tallied two blocks per set for six total, led by junior McKenzie Murphy.

UE wins by 92-50 final

EVANSVILLE, Ind. – Alex Hemenway went a perfect 5-for-5 from outside to help the University of Evansville men’s basketball team defeat Calumet College of St. Joseph by a final score of 95-50 in Evansville’s home opener at the Ford Center.

Hemenway was 8-of-10 from the floor on his way to a career-high 21 points. His previous scoring mark of 18 points came in against USC Upstate in his time at Clemson.

“He was phenomenal today, it was exciting to see him play like this on Education Day,” UE head coach David Ragland exclaimed. “Alex was sitting in those seats when he was younger so it was neat to see his story come full circle.”

Hemenway’s tally was a game high. Josh Hughes joined him in double figures with 12 points. Trent Hundley finished nine points for the second game in a row while Kaia Berridge scored eight. Leif Moeller completed the game with eight assists and seven points while James Dyson-Merwe led all players with seven rebounds.

After hitting the first shot of the game, Calumet opened a 12-8 advantage knocking down their first attempts from the field. Triples from Alex Hemenway and Leif Moeller quickly put UE in front at 14-12. Hemenway’s fourth triple of the game pushed the lead to 20-12 at the 13:28 mark. His trey capped a 5-of-7 start by the Aces from long range.

Evansville continued to add to its lead when Hemenway capped a 5-for-5 start from 3-point range to give UE a 29-15 lead before Josh Hughes added a bucket to extend the advantage to 16 points. The Crimson Wave cut the deficit back down to ten before the Aces rallied to take a 19-point lead at the half. An alley-oop from Moeller to Connor Turnbull completed the first half scoring and made it a 44-25 game.

Hemenway wrapped up the half with 19 points while Moeller registered eight assists in the opening 20 minutes. Josh Hughes finished the period with 10 points.

Field goals by Hughes and Hemenway gave UE its first 20-point lead in the opening two minutes of the second half as the Aces held a 48-28 advantage. Keishon Porter and Moeller converted layups to extend the lead to 24 points at the 15-minute mark. It was all Aces from there as the final score marked the largest advantage for UE at 42 points.

UE shot 49.3% for the game while holding the Crimson Wave to 30.2%. The rebounding battle went the way of the Aces by a final of 49-25. J. Caleb Slawinski was the leading scorer for Calumet scoring 10 points.

On Sunday, the Aces are back home to face Oakland City at 3 p.m.

Everett records six kills to lead the team

NORMAL, Ill. – Hinsley Everett led the University of Evansville volleyball team with six kills in Friday’s match at Illinois State inside CEFCU Arena, which saw the Redbirds take a 3-0 victory.

Josdarilee Caraballo and Chloe Cline recorded three kills apiece. Both wrapped up the contest with two blocks each. Kora Ruff registered 12 kills while Ainoah Cruz had nine digs. Aida Shadewale and Hann Reichensperger paced ISU with 12 and 10 kills, respectively.

Set 1 – Illinois State 25, UE 9

Illinois State scored the opening five points and eight of the first nine to set the early tone. Sabrina Ripple and Josdarilee Caraballo had solo blocks to make it an 11-5 game, but the Redbirds continued to roll. They grabbed a 17-6 edge before finishing the set with a 25-9 win.

Set 2 – Illinois State 25, UE 12

Just as they had in the first game, ISU was rolling early in the second. After posting the first five points, the Redbirds held a 7-1 lead. They pushed the lead to 19-8 before Evansville got bak into it with a 3-0 stretch. Hinsley Everett and Chloe Cline picked up kills before the duo assisted on a block to finish the run. The momentum was short-lived as Illinois State rebounded to take the set by a 25-12 final.

Set 3 – Illinois State 25, UE 18

Chloe Cline and Kora Ruff picked up kills to knot the score at 2-2 while Everett and McKenzie Laubach added kills to give UE its first lead of the evening at 5-4. Illinois State bounced back to go up by a score of 9-6, but the Aces rallied to tie the score at 10-10 on a Caraballo ace. Her kill shortly after gave Evansville a 16-14 advantage.

With the score tied at 17-17, ISU took control, scoring four in a row before clinching the match with a 25-18 win. UE looks to earn a weekend split with a 5 p.m. match at Bradley on Saturday.