University of Southern Indiana’s Jennifer Comastri and Aubrey Swart both won their respective events at the Greyhound Invitational.

Junior Comastri ran a blazing time in the mile, 4 minutes, 56.88 seconds to claim the event. Comastri’s mile time was also good for an NCAA II provisional qualifying mark as she got under the 4:58.73 threshold. Comastri’s time makes her the 16th fastest woman in NCAA II as well as third all-time in the USI record books. Freshman Mckenna Cavanaugh followed behind Comastri with a time of 5:17.08, good for third place. Senior Hope Jones and Freshman Hadley Fisher rounded out the top five with times of 5:19.91 and 5:22.05, respectively.

Aubrey Swart had an impressive outing in the 3000m as she claimed the top spot in the event with a time of 10:42.84.

In the field events, the Screaming Eagles posted two top-ten finishers.

First, freshman Miranda Anslinger vaulted 4 feet, 11 inches in the high jump, which gave her seventh in the event.

Also, freshman Cassie Janas finished 10th in the weight throw with a toss of 43’ 1.5”. Janas’s weight throw mark moved her to fifth all-time in USI history.

Other Notables: The USI women’s track & field team is currently ranked 22nd in the lastest USTFCCCA poll which was released last week, Tuesday. The Eagles are one of three teams from the GLVC ranked in the top-25 ranked behind Southwest Baptist in seventh and Indianapolis in fifth overall.

The University of Evansville’s men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams closed out the regular season with a strong performance at Southern Illinois, Saturday afternoon.

Zeke Metz earned an event title in the 500-yard freestyle with a 4:45.66 time, while Austin Smith took third with a 4:49.11 event finish.

Ee E Tan posted a second place 1000-yard freestyle time of 9:53.02, while Samad Abu-Shamab took fifth in the event at 10:32.25.

Sonsoles Aguayo captured second place at 1:57.68 in the 200-yard freestyle, while Andrea Ramis (2:01.13) and Sarah Jans (2:02.11) took fifth and sixth respectively in the event.

Paul Cozzens took down a 1:57.70 200-yard IM time finishing in second, while also taking fifth place in the 100-yard breaststroke at 1:03.58.

Alaina Sylvester (1:09.38), Sage Moore (1:10.56) and Allison McDonald (1:11.44) took second through fourth in the 100-yard breaststroke.

In diving Fae Keighley took fourth place on the 3-meter board with a 224.70 score, while Maggie Franz earned third in 1-meter with a 237.89 score.

The Purple Aces now ready for the Missouri Valley Conference Women’s Championship, Feb. 19-22 held in Columbia, Mo., while the men will set for the Mid-American Conference Championship March 4-7 back in Carbondale, Ill.

Aces fight to the finish against conference leaders

 A trio of Purple Aces led the way with 14 points with the University of Evansville men’s basketball team putting up a stellar fight before finishing the day with an 80-68 loss to MVC-leading UNI on Saturday at the Ford Center.

Trailing by 14 at halftime, Evansville (9-14, 0-10 MVC) made its first eight attempts in the second half to get within four points before UNI (19-3, 8-2 MVC) overcame the challenge to finish off the win.

Evan Kuhlman tied his career mark with 14 points, knocking down an efficient five out of seven field goal attempts.  Sam Cunliffe and K.J. Riley matched his point total, combining to hit 11 shots.  Riley added four free throws to his season tally with his squad combining to his 13 out of 16 attempts.  UE shot 26.9% in the opening 20 minutes before knocking down 69.2% of their tries in the latter period.

“I am very thankful to be part of it and coach these guys – they are really good people,” Aces head coach Todd Lickliter explained following the game.  “I did not think the first half was all that bad, we generated some good shots and if they went down, it would have been a better half.”

“At the break, I told them that I was thankful that they guarded so hard because the way things were going offensively, the only chance we had was to guard and we did a nice job of that,” Lickliter added.  “I knew that the shots would start to fall.”

A defensive struggle ensued in the first half with UNI making a late rally to go to the half with a 30-16 advantage.  The teams combined for a 1-6 offensive start before the Panthers got on track with six in a row to go up 8-2.  UNI got on track and used a 6-for-12 start to go up 14-5 as the midway point of the half approached.

Evansville cut into the deficit with an Evan Kuhlman free throw and a bucket by John Hall that made it a 14-8 contest.  That is when defense took over.  For a stretch of five minutes, the squads hit just two out of 22 attempts before UNI snapped out of the stretch with back-to-back layups that gave them their first double digit lead with 4:11 left, forcing an Aces time out.

Jawaun Newton and Sam Cunliffe responded with baskets that got the Aces back within seven points (19-12), but over the final 2:35 of the half, the Panthers outscored the Aces by an 11-4 margin to take the 14-point halftime lead.

The offense for the Purple Aces came out on fire in the second half, hitting its first eight shots while getting within four points of the Panthers.  UNI posted the first two points of the half before Evan Kuhlman nailed UE’s first 3-pointer of the game.  Cunliffe followed up with another before a pair of Kuhlman free throws cut the deficit back to single digits – 35-26 – just over two minutes in.

UE got even closer, utilizing a 7-0 run that was capped off by a 3-point play from Riley two minutes later that made it a 38-33 game.  With 14:52 left in the contest, Jawaun Newton added to Evansville’s blazing second half, hitting a triple that brought UE within four at 40-36.  Evansville did not miss its first shot of the half until 7:13 had gone by.

One of the defining moments for UNI came right after UE made it a 4-point game.  A Trae Berhow 3-pointer started an 8-0 run that pushed their lead back out to 12.  The lead for the Panthers was pushed out to 13 points with just over eight minutes left before the Aces made another push.  A quick 6-0 run saw the gap trimmed to seven points with 6:16 on the clock, but the Panthers answered each time.

In the end, UNI was able to fend off the challenge to take the 80-68 victory.  Evansville overcame a tough first half that saw them shoot 26.9%, rebounding to hit 18 out of 26 attempts in the final 20 minutes – 69.2% – to finish the game at 48.1%.  The Panthers wrapped up the day shooting 50%.  UNI had a slight 30-28 edge in the final rebounding tally.  Austin Phyfe was 6-for-6 from the field on his way to a team-high 16 points while AJ Green and Berhow notched 15 each.

On Wednesday, UE is back home to welcome Southern Illinois to the Ford Center for a 6 p.m. game.

Senior guard Ashley Johnson matched her career-high of 22 points Saturday afternoon as University of Southern Indiana Women’s Basketball earned an 81-68 Great Lakes Valley Conference road win over league-newcomer Lindenwood University at Robert F. Hyland Arena.

Johnson’s performance, which included five rebounds, six assists and two steals, highlighted an all-around impressive performance for the Screaming Eagles, who were facing a Lindenwood team that advanced to the NCAA II Central Region Tournament in 2018-19 before joining the GLVC last summer.

USI (12-6, 8-4 GLVC) used a strong defensive effort to set the tone in the opening half as it held the Lions, who entered the game as the GLVC’s third-highest scoring team after dropping 103 points on McKendree University Thursday evening, to just 28.1 percent (9-32) shooting before the intermission.

The Eagles, meanwhile, went 15-of-30 (.500) from the field in the first 20 minutes as they finished a first half that featured four ties and eight lead changes with a 33-27 lead.

A pair of three-pointers and a layup by junior guard Emma DeHart in the first four minutes of the third quarter helped the Eagles extend their halftime advantage to 48-33.

Lindenwood (11-7, 7-5 GLVC), however, surged back as it scored nine straight points in less than two minutes to trim the Eagles’ lead to 48-42.

After a three-point play by Lindenwood senior forward Kallie Bildner cut the Eagles’ lead to just six points with just under four minutes to play in the third quarter, freshman forward Hannah Haithcock answered with a quick layup to briefly halt the Lions’ surge.

The Lions, however, continued to threaten USI’s lead as they scored the next four points to get to within four points with just under two minutes left to play in the period.

Haithcock, who scored 11 of her 15 points in the second half, once again ended Lindenwood’s run after scoring on an offensive put back. Senior guard Kiara Moses got a steal and a fast-break layup on Lindenwood’s next possession, while an old-fashioned three-point play by Johnson put the Eagles up 57-46 heading into the fourth quarter.

Moses’s three-pointer a minute into the fourth quarter put the Eagles up by 12, while a three-pointer by Johnson less than two minutes later put USI up 63-53. Lindenwood got to within seven points late in the game, but the Eagles hit 12-of-13 free throw attempts in the final 90 seconds to secure the 13-point victory.

In addition to Johnson and Haithcock, the Eagles got 12 points from DeHart and 10 points from freshman guard Addy Blackwell. Nine different players scored for the Eagles, including freshman forward Tara Robbe, who had nine points, and sophomore forward Ashlynn Brown, had had four points and a team-high seven rebounds. Moses added five points, all of which came in the second half.

Bildner led the Lions with a game-high 25 points and 12 rebounds, while sophomore guard Devin Fuhring added 21 points. Senior guard Lindsay Medlen, who surpassed the 1,000-career point plateau in the loss, added 15 points, 11 rebounds and seven assists.

USI returns to action Thursday at 5:15 p.m. when it visits Maryville University in St. Louis, Missouri. The Eagles close out their four-game road trip with a stop in Rolla, Missouri, next Saturday to take on Missouri University of Science & Technology.