University of Southern Indiana Women’s Basketball ends a long layoff Sunday at noon (CST) when it visits No. 4 Ashland University for a Midwest Region clash at Kates Gymnasium in Ashland, Ohio.

The game will be aired live on 95.7 The Spin, while live stats, audio and video is available at GoUSIEagles.com.

Sunday’s game is the Screaming Eagles’ first since ending a five-game-in-11-day stretch with a 71-66 road win over McKendree University in their Great Lakes Valley Conference-opener December 3.

USI (5-1) has won four straight games heading into its bout with Ashland, which begins the week with an 8-0 mark on the year.

Senior guard Ashly Johnson leads the Eagles with 12.3 points and 4.0 assists per game, while junior guard Emma DeHart is contributing 11.5 points, 4.8 rebounds and 2.2 assists per appearance. The Eagles also are getting 9.5 points and a team-best 5.3 rebounds per contest from sophomore forward Ashlynn Brown, while freshman forward Hannah Haithcock is averaging 9.2 points per outing.

Sunday’s game is USI’s final non-conference contest before resuming GLVC play January 2 with a home game against No. 1 Drury University.

USI Women’s Basketball Notes
• Eagles cap off busy stretch with GLVC-opening win. USI Women’s Basketball capped off its stretch of five games in 11 days with a 71-66 come-from-behind win over host McKendree on December 3. Senior guard/forward Morgan Sherwood led the Eagles with a career-high 16 points, while freshman forward Hannah Haithcock and junior guard Emma DeHart contributed 12 and 11 points, respectively.

• Early deficits. The Eagles have had to dig out of some early deficits throughout the first six games. They trailed Central Missouri by 13 before rallying for a seven-point win in their season-opener and were down by 12 in the first half against McKendree before rallying for their latest win. USI nearly eliminated a 20-point second-half deficit in its loss to Ferris State.

• Takeaways from McKendree. USI went 7-of-13 (.538) from behind the arc in its win over McKendree and committed just 10 turnovers. On the flip side, McKendree was 6-of-17 from three-point range and coughed the ball up twice as many times as USI.

• Shake off the rust. After playing five games in 11 days, the Eagles’ game against No. 4 Ashland Sunday will be their first game in nearly three weeks and will be their only game before resuming GLVC play January 2 against No. 1 Drury.

University of Evansville Director of Athletics Mark Spencer has announced the promotion of Chris Pfau to head coach of the Purple Aces women’s soccer program Tuesday.

“I would like to thank President Christopher M. Pietruszkiewicz, Mark Spencer, Sarah Solinsky and the search committee for providing me with this incredible opportunity,” Pfau said. “I am very inspired by the vision that Mark has for UE athletics.”

Pfau, who returned to the UE sideline as an assistant coach in May of 2019 will begin his second stint at the Aces head coach. Pfau served at the top spot from 2005-07.

“I am excited that we found our guy,” Spencer said. “We did an exhaustive national search and found the right fit in our own back yard. We are confident that Chris will take the program back to the success of his previous tenure and beyond.”

In his previous tenure with the Aces, Pfau orchestrated the seventh best turn around in the country in 2005, put together three 10-win seasons, made the MVC Tournament each year while leading his team to the finals in 2006.  His student-athletes received numerous accolades including four All-Region players, 22 MVC All-Conference selections, 11 conference players of the week and seven MVC Scholar-Athlete Team honorees.  In 2006, Pfau and his assistants were named the MVC Coaching Staff of the Year.

“We are excited about the momentum at the University of Evansville and look forward to an exciting future for our women’s soccer program and our student-athletes,” President Pietruszkiewicz said.

Pfau’s extensive head coaching resume includes stops as head coach at Akron (2008-12) where he earned back-to-back undefeated seasons against MAC East Division foes and won the MAC East for the first time in school history, and Houston (2012-17), leading the Cougars to their first postseason berth since 2010.

He also brings a wealth of coaching experience from various avenues in the soccer field.  As an assistant at Princeton from 2003 through 2005, he helped his team earn a berth in the College Cup Final Four.  Prior to his that, his coaching experience includes the director of coaching for the Junior Irish Soccer Club (2002-03), head women’s coach at St. Mary’s College (2002-03), head men’s coach at Mount Mary College (1999-02), assistant for the Cincinnati River Hawks of the A-league from 1997 through 1999 and the head coach of the Cincinnati United Soccer Club (1995-99).  In his final stop before coming back to Evansville, Pfau was an assistant coach at Valparaiso from 2017-19.

“UE holds a special place in my heart, I formed great friendships and memories from my previous time at UE,” Pfau said. “I am excited to get started with the team in the spring.  This is a great group of young women and know together we will build something very special.”

Before his coaching tenure began, Pfau was a highly successful player at Old Dominion. He was a team captain, four-year starter and all-region honoree during his collegiate playing days, which spanned from 1985-89. Pfau went on to enjoy a lengthy professional playing career in the APSL, WPSL and WSL from 1989-99.

UE to finish non-conference slate on Saturday

Jacksonville State began the night on an 8-2 run and would pull away from there, defeating the University of Evansville men’s basketball team by a final of 85-59 on Monday evening inside Pete Mathews Coliseum.

Sam Cunliffe was the lone double figure scorer for Evansville (8-4), finishing the night with 11 points.  DeAndre Williams, Artur Labinowicz, K.J. Riley, Evan Kuhlman, Jawaun Newton and Thomasi Gilgeous-Alexander each finished with six points.  Riley and Labinowicz paced the team with five boards.

“Give credit to Jacksonville State, they came out ready to play.  We did not match their intensity all night,” UE head coach Walter McCarty said.  “They got off to a big start and we could not overcome it.”

Jacksonville State connected on its first three shots of the game en route to an 8-2 lead.  DeAndre Williams’ second bucket of the night cut the deficit back to four, but the Gamecocks were able to push their lead to eight points thanks to a 6-of-9 start from the floor.

From there, the Gamecocks continued to shoot lights out as they would take a 47-23 lead into halftime.  The first double figure lead came at 25-15 inside of nine minutes remaining in the half and they put it on cruise control from there, outscoring the Aces by a 15-3 margin in the last six minutes of the half to take a 24-point lead at the break.  JSU shot 55.6% overall while draining seven triples in the opening 20 minutes.

Evansville came out with a much better start in the second half, posting the first six points.  Just as he did in the first half, Williams got the Aces started with a basket before Hall and Cunliffe added two more field goals.  An and-one by K.J. Riley cut the deficit to 17 tallies at 49-32 in the first four minutes.  Jawaun Newton came off the bench and upped the energy level for his team, scoring six points while pressuring the JSU offense.  The deficit cut to 16 points before a pair of technical fouls saw the Gamecocks push their lead back to 20.

With 13 minutes left, another triple pushed the JSU lead to 58-35.  From there, they took full control and cruised to the 85-59 win.  They led by as many as 29 points in the win.  Leading the Gamecocks was Jacara Cross, who tallied 16 points on 8-of-10 shooting.  The Gamecocks shot 54.8% on the night while the Aces finished at 40.4%.  The rebounding total also went JSU’s way by a 39-26 final.

On Saturday, the Aces wrap up the non-conference schedule with a 6 p.m. game against Murray State at the Ford Center.  It will be an Orange Out and fans are encouraged to wear orange to the game.  Lower bowl seats are going fast and a limited amount remain.