University of Southern Indiana Women’s Basketball heads west to take on Rockhurst University Thursday at 5:30 p.m. in Kansas City, Missouri, and William Jewell College Saturday at 1 p.m. in Liberty, Missouri.

The Screaming Eagles (11-4, 4-1 Great Lakes Valley Conference) begin the week following a 75-49 win over visiting Quincy University this past Saturday at the Physical Activities Center. Senior guard Alex Davidson (Salem, Indiana) had 18 points, six rebounds and five assists to pace the Eagles, while junior guard Ashley Johnson (Louisville, Kentucky) finished with seven points, seven assists and five steals.

Davidson leads the Eagles on the year with 13.2 points and 3.9 assists per game, while senior center Kacy Eschweiler (St. Charles, Missouri) is chipping in 11.8 points and a team-best 7.7 rebounds. Sophomore forward Imani Guy (Columbus, Indiana) is averaging 10.9 points and 5.8 rebounds per contest, while Johnson and sophomore guard Emma DeHart (Indianapolis, Indiana) are each averaging 9.5 points per outing.

Both games this weekend will be aired live on 95.7 The Spin and the GLVC Sports Network, while live stats, audio and video can be accessed at GoUSIEagles.com. GLVCSN is available both on your desktop and mobile/tablet devices as well as four over-the top (OTT) platforms, including Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Android TV and Apple TV 4th Gen. GLVCSN.com is the official website of GLVCSN, while the GLVCSN mobile app is available for iOS in the App Store and Android on Google Play.

USI Women’s Basketball Notes
• Eagles split GLVC play last week. USI Women’s Basketball went 1-1 in GLVC play last week, falling to Truman State, 83-72, Thursday before earning a 75-49 win over Quincy. USI outshot and outrebounded both opponents, but too many fouls led to a combined 45 points at the charity stripe.

• Last week’s leaders. Led by sophomore forward Imani Guy, who averaged 13.0 points, 6.6 rebounds and 2.0 block per game last week, the Eagles had five players average in double figures on the week and eight average at least 6.5 points per appearance. Senior guard Alex Davidson added 12.5 points and 3.5 assists per contest, while junior guard Ashley Johnson contributed 10.5 points, 6.5 assists and 2.5 steals per outing. Senior forward/center Mikayla Rowan dished in 10.0 points and a team-best 9.0 rebounds per game.

• Double-figures. Freshman forward Ashlynn Brown scored a season-high 10 points in USI’s win over Quincy, making her the ninth different USI player to score in double figures this year. USI has had seven different players reach double-figures in the scoring column multiple times in 2018-19 and four different players reach the 20-point plateau.

• Distribution. USI averaged 17.0 assists per game last week, including 20 assists in its win over Quincy. The Eagles’ ball distributors put USI in position to shoot 46.8 percent (59-126) from the field on the week.

• Rowan posts first-career double-double. Rowan recorded her first career double-double in the Eagles’ loss to Truman as she finished with 11 points and a career-high 11 rebounds. Senior center Kacy Eschweiler also grabbed 11 boards in the loss, marking the first time this year the Eagles have had multiple players with 10-or-more rebounds.

• GLVC Tournament Points Rating System. After three weeks of GLVC play, the GLVC Tournament Points Rating System (GTPRS) has the Eagles in second place with a rating of 4.20. Drury (4.30) leads the league, while Lewis (4.10), Truman State (4.08), Maryville (3.42) and Bellarmine (3.10) round out the top six in the standings. The GTPRS will determine the participants and seeding of the GLVC Tournament in 2018-19.

• Up next. USI travels to Kansas City, Missouri, to take on Rockhurst Thursday before visiting William Jewell Saturday in Liberty, Missouri.

• About Rockhurst. The Hawks begin the week with a 5-8 overall record and a 1-4 mark in GLVC play after losing the last three contests. Junior guard Madeline Ronshausen averages 16.2 points and 2.4 assists per game to lead Rockhurst, while junior forward Marisa Lowe is contributing 10.8 points per contest. Two years ago, Lowe scorched the Eagles for 30 points and eight rebounds in an 84-79 USI victory at the PAC, but she red-shirted a year ago.

• About William Jewell. The Cardinals, who host Bellarmine Thursday evening, begin the week with an 8-5 overall record and a 2-3 mark in GLVC play after a 72-51 road win over Rockhurst last week. Freshman guard Antoinette Mussorici averages 12.2 points and 2.3 assists per game to lead the Cardinals, while sophomore forward Kiara Bradley is contributing 11.5 points and a team-best 5.5 rebounds per contest.

In their first individual workouts, new enrollees Lola Bracy and NaTaya Partee made an immediate impression on the University of Evansville women’s basketball team’s coaching staff.

“I think we’re pretty fortunate to bring two quality student-athletes into our program,” said Aces’ women’s basketball head coach Matt Ruffing. “It’s big having them come in at the semester, getting a chance to familiarize theirselves with our program, but within the schemes of what we do offensively and defensively. For them it’s a big semester. It’s an adjustment period for them. I think really they can grow individually, but then at the same time can really help us as we get deeper into conference play and can get our girls ready to play.”

Joining the Aces from Lamar University, Lola Bracy comes to Evansville after three semesters with the Cardinals. A St. Louis native, Bracy makes the move closer to home following 26 appearances at Lamar where she averaged 3.6 points per game, including a 24-point performance in 23 minutes of Lamar’s 116-37 win over Schreiner University last season.

“She’s a very aggressive player on both ends of the floor,” said Ruffing on Bracy. “She’s not shy to score and really looks to score and is someone who brings some speed to our team.”

After a season with Johnson County Community College, 6’2″ forward NaTaya Partee joins Evansville for the spring semester. Partee scored 25 points and pulled down 47 rebounds in 24 games with the Cavaliers as a freshman. The Grandview, Mo. native averaged 9.3 points and 8.5 rebounds during her four-year prep career at Grandview High School.

“We’re looking to get a little bigger here in the future and NaTaya is going to help us with that,” mentioned Ruffing about Partee. “She’s someone that is going to be able to fit that role we need, defend, rebound, and run. Offensively, I think with some time spent with our coaching staff, the ability to be a pretty good offensive player for us.”

Both Bracy and Partee will be ineligible during the spring semester due to NCAA Transfer rules.

UE faces Bears at 7 p.m.

Three of the next four games are on the road as the University of Evansville men’s basketball team begins the stretch on Wednesday with a 7 p.m. contest at Missouri State.  UE is home on Saturday to take on Illinois State before traveling to Drake and UNI next week.

Setting the Scene

– UE has won 7 of the last 9 games against the Bears and are 2-2 in their last four trips to JQH Arena

– Evansville has dropped its first seven road games of the season; the last time UE started out with seven road losses was in 2005-06 when the Aces were 0-10 to star the year on the road

– Through four MVC games in 2019, UE has played in overtime twice

Last Time Out

– Trailing by five with five minutes to go in regulation, Indiana State rallied to take a 72-66 win in overtime on Saturday over UE

– Evansville trailed ISU by four inside of 20 seconds remaining, but five points from Shea Feehan helped to force overtime

– Feehan was the lone double digit scorer for UE, tallying 12 points; three players totaled nine points apiece

Takeaways from Indiana State

– John Hall had another solid game with 9 points and 9 rebounds; he continues to pace the MVC with 8.4 rebounds per game

– UE hauled in 36 defensive boards and now ranks 16th in the nation with 29.76 per game

– With 44 rebounds against ISU; the Aces have hauled in at least 35 boards in all four MVC games; in non-conference play, Evansville had 35+ rebounds in nine out of 13 games

– After posting a total of 7 points in his first two MVC games, Shea Feehan has rebounded with 13 against Loyola and 12 versus the Sycamores

Rebounding Machine

– John Hall added to his conference-leading rebound tally and continues to pace the league with 8.4 per game

– In home games, Hall has averaged 9.7 points and 9.8 rebounds per game; he also has three double-doubles at the Ford Center

– In the game against Jacksonville State, Hall grabbed a career-high 14 boards

– The Philadelphia native leads the MVC with 8.4 rebounds per game while his total of 7.4 defensive caroms is 20th in the country

Scouting the Opponent

– Under the direction of new head coach Dana Ford, Missouri State is 8-9 overall and 2-2 through their first four conference games

– MSU has won its last two games, both on the road, at Indiana State and Bradley; on Saturday, they defeated the Braves, 69-64

– Tulio Da Silva leads the Bears with 16.2 points per game, 6.9 rebounds and an unbelievable 63.1 shooting percentage

– Jarred Dixon has 14.6 PPG while Keandre Cook has posted 13 points