University of Southern Indiana Softball begins the PFX Spring Games Saturday at 8 a.m. (CST) when it takes on Midwest Region foe Cedarville University in Clermont, Florida. The No. 13 Screaming Eagles also play the University of Minnesota Duluth Saturday at 10:30 a.m.

USI (6-4), which slipped four spots in the latest NFCA Top 25 Coaches’ Poll, plays 10 games at the Spring Games.

The Eagles also have a Top 25 battle with No. 19 Winona State University Sunday at noon as well as a meeting with Holy Family University Sunday at 4:30 p.m.

Monday’s slate has the Eagles facing Wilmington University at 10:30 a.m. and Wayne State College (Neb.) at 1 p.m.

Following a one-day break, USI gets a rematch with top-ranked and defending national champion Minnesota State University Mankato as well as a bout with LIU Post Wednesday at 8 a.m. and 10:30 a.m., respectively.

The Eagles suffered a pair of setbacks to the Mavericks in 2017, including a 5-0 loss in the NCAA II Championship Series in Salem, Virginia.

USI completes the Spring Games Thursday when they take on Midwest Region foes University of Findlay at  8 a.m. and Grand Valley State University at 10:30 a.m.

The Eagles defeated Grand Valley State twice last year, including a 5-1 win in the NCAA II Midwest Region Tournament last year.

USI concludes its busy stretch of games March 11 (Noon) when it hosts a doubleheader against Maryville University in its Great Lakes Valley Conference and home-openers at the USI Softball Field.

University of Southern Indiana Men’s Track & Field senior Bastian Grau (Höchstadt, Germany) will have a chance to defend his national championship in the mile next weekend at the NCAA II Indoor Championships in Pittsburg, Kansas.

Grau qualified for the championships with a provisional time of four minutes, 4.51 seconds, when he won the Arkansas Qualifier. His time ranks eighth of the 16 runners competing.

At last year’s championships, Grau won the title in 4:05.70.

Grau’s time also earned him All-Midwest Region honors from the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association. His time was second fastest in the Midwest Region.

The senior earned second team All-Great Lakes Valley Conference after finishing second at the GLVC Championships in the mile last weekend, as teammate sophomore Javan Winders (Mansfield, Tennessee) narrowly beat him in a photo finish. He was also second team All-GLVC in the distance medley relay.

The preliminaries for the mile will be March 9 at 3:30 p.m. with the finals scheduled for March 10 at 5:40 p.m. The championships will be streamed live on NCAA.com.

 Trio of Aces combine for 40 of Aces’ 51 points

The University of Evansville women’s basketball team battled tough in the early going, but fell to Missouri State, 97-51, on the road Thursday night in Springfield, Mo.

“The effort was somewhat there, but it was our game plan and it was doing what they were asked to do that wasn’t there and it was putting us in some really bad situations defensively,” said Aces head coach Matt Ruffing. “We made some shots in the first half and to be down the way we were shooting 45% from the field and 40% from three, that’s tough to swallow as a coach. The defensive effort wasn’t there and our shots weren’t falling in the second half and that’s why it was 97-51.”

Graduate guard Hannah Noe returned to double-figures for the first time in eight games with a team-high 17 points, including four three-pointers. Also scoring double-digits for Evansville were sophomore guard Macie Lively, who finished with 12 points, three rebounds, and two assists, and junior guard Kerri Gasper with 11 points and a rebound. Leading the Bears was Liza Fruendt, who tallied a game-high 28 points to go along with five assists, four rebounds, and a steal.

Evansville got the scoring by way of a triple from Noe on the Aces’ first possession as UE built an 8-7 lead at Missouri State with 4:03 left in the opening quarter. The Bears’ offense got going in the final minutes of the first period as Missouri State closed the frame on an 11-4 run to take an 18-12 lead after the first 10 minutes of action.

In the second quarter, Missouri State opened with a 13-5 run that increased its advantage to 14 at 31-17 with 6:02 remaining in the quarter. The Aces though showcased plenty of fight, clawing back within eight with an 11-6 run that closed the gap to 37-29 heading into the final minutes of the period. To close the quarter, the Bears scored 12 of the last 18 points of the quarter, including a 10-0 run, as Missouri State took a 49-35 lead into the halftime break.