University of Southern Indiana Women’s Track & Field sophomore Hope Jones (Cumberland, Indiana) earning a provisional time in the 5,000-meters was the highlight of the Screaming Eagles’ weekend at the GVSU Big Meet hosted by Grand Valley State University.

Crossing the finish line in 17 minutes, 17.47 seconds, Jones earned an NCAA II provisional time in the event to go along with her seventh-place finish. Jones also improved her career best in the 5,000-meter run be nearly 25 seconds, while competing in the event for the first time this season.

Her time is also good enough to move Jones into the top-10 of the USI record book for the 5,000-meters with the seventh-best time in school-history.

Junior Jessica Lincoln (Palatine, Illinois) recorded a 21^stplace showing in the event with her time of 17:48.53.

In the 3,000-meters, senior Cathryn Peter (Tell City, Indiana) improved her season best time by nearly 26 seconds with her 46^th-place showing. In a loaded field with NCAA Division I runners, Peter finished in 10:27.18.

Narrowly improving her season best in the event, sophomore Kate Henrickson (Boonville, Indiana) earned a 35^th-place finish in the mile with a time of 5:11.42.

With one more tune-up before the Great Lakes Valley Conference Indoor Championships, the Eagles will head to Greencastle, Indiana, next Saturday, February 18, for the Depauw Classic hosted by Depauw University.

Duane Gibson’s career game led the University of Evansville men’s basketball team to its third win in a row as the Purple Aces took down Southern Illinois by a final score of 75-70 on Saturday afternoon at SIU Arena.   Gibson connected on 10 of his 15 attempts to finish with 27 points and also set his career high with 10 rebounds to lead UE (13-14, 4-10 MVC).  Jaylon Brown finished the day with 14 points while Ryan Taylor and David Howard recorded 13 and 12 points, respectively.    “We knew it would be important to get off to a good start.  They are a tough team to play and this is a tough place to play,” Evansville head coach Marty Simmons said.  “I was very proud of the start we got off to; we executed very well.”   Leo Vincent was the top performer for the Salukis (14-13, 7-7 MVC) as he scored 21 points.  That tally included five 3-pointers.  Sean O’Brien posted 18 points while Aaron Cook had 11.   David Howard registered four early points as the Aces hit 4 of their opening 5 shots to take an 8-4 lead.  Seconds later, Ryan Taylor hit his first shot of the game, nailing a triple to put UE up 11-4 at the 5-minute mark.   Midway through the opening stanza, Christian Benzon connected on an and-one to give UE its first double figure lead at 20-8.  After Leo Vincent knocked down a trey on the ensuing possession, Taylor connected from downtown once again to put the Aces up 25-13 with just over eight minutes left.  Evansville’s defense forced SIU to hit just 5 of their opening 19 attempts (26.3%) while drawing three charges in the first 12 minutes.   The lead reached as many as 13 for the Purple Aces with 5:52 remaining before a pair of free throws in the final seconds saw SIU cut the gap to 36-26 at halftime.  Gibson paced the Aces with 10 points at the break.   Coming out of the locker room, SIU got back within double figures at 37-28 before Evansville posted four in a row to match its largest lead of the afternoon at 13 points.  Five minutes in, Gibson continued his stellar game, putting back an offensive board to give the Purple Aces a 45-30 edge.   Southern Illinois bounced back, registering five in a row over the next minute and got within 9 as a triple from Aaron Cook made it a 49-40 game midway through the period.  Evansville bounced back with a run of its own as a Christian Benzon trey was the pivotal bucket in an 11-5 stretch that gave the Aces a 61-45 lead with six minutes remaining.   Leo Vincent was a one man show in the final minutes for the Salukis knocking down three 3-pointers in the span of two minutes to cut the UE lead to just six at 66-60.  Gibson put an end to the stretch, driving to the basket for his 25th point of the day, setting a career-high.  He later added a pair of free throws with 30 seconds left.    The Salukis continued to rally as a Mike Rodriguez bucket cut the UE lead to three points with nine seconds remaining.  Jaylon Brown calmly knocked down both free throws as UE held on for the exciting 75-70 triumph.   A solid shooting performance saw the Aces finish at 54% while holding Southern Illinois to 40%.  UE also had a 36-30 rebounding advantage in the game.   Today’s win marked the 4th road win in a row over the Salukis, marking the first time Evansville has done that in a series that started in 1927.   Evansville is back home on Tuesday night to take on Drake in a 7 p.m. contest.

The 15th-ranked University of Southern Indiana men’s basketball team held off a second half run by Maryville University to post an 82-66 victory Saturday afternoon in St. Louis, Missouri. USI sees its record go to 23-2 overall and 13-2 in the GLVC, while Maryville goes to 8-19 overall, 2-13 GLVC.

The win also increases USI’s hold on second in the GLVC East Division, leading third-place University of Wisconsin-Parkside and Lewis University by two games after both teams lost today. The Screaming Eagles also remain one game back of division front-running and eighth-ranked Bellarmine University.

Entering next week’s action, a USI win and losses by UW-Parkside or Lewis University would clinch a first round bye for the Eagles in the upcoming GLVC Tournament.

The Screaming Eagles flew out to a 7-0 lead and never looked back in the opening half. USI’s lead would expand to 14 points twice in the opening 20 minutes. The first 14-point advantage came when senior guard Bobo Drummond (Peoria, Illinois) hit a three-point bomb at 9:54 to make the score, 25-11, while the second came when sophomore guard Alex Stein (Evansville, Indiana) dropped in one from downtown at 8:03 to make the score 33-19.

Drummond and Stein would end the half with team-best 12 points each as the Eagles led at the intermission, 46-35.

In the second half, the Eagles raced out to a trio of 14-point leads before the Saints rallied with a 16-5 run to close the gap to 63-60 with 7:07 to play. USI went cold during the Maryville run, going 4:30 without a basket before junior forward DayJar Dickson (Washington, D.C.) scored to put an end to the drought.

The Eagles regained their shooting touch with Stein and junior guard Marcellous Washington (Lexington, Kentucky) hitting clutch back-to-back three-point buckets in the final three minutes to ignite a 17-5 run to close out USI’s 82-66 victory. The 16-point margin was the largest advantage of the game for USI.

As a team, USI won the battle of the boards, 47-34, and overcame a tough afternoon at the free throw line. After neither team shot a free throw in the first half, the Eagles were one-of-seven to start the second half before hitting 13-of-15 down the stretch to seal the 23^rd win of the year.

Individually, Stein led four Eagles in double-digits with a game-high 21 points. Drummond followed with 15 points, while Dickson and Washington rounded out the double-figure scorers with 12 points and 10 points, respectively. Dickson also grabbed a game-high 11 rebounds to record his first double-double of the year.

The Eagles return to the Physical Activities Center for their final regular season home games of 2016-17. The final home games are Thursday at 7:30 p.m. versus the University of Illinois Springfield and February 18 versus McKendree University at 3:15 p.m. The USI-McKendree match-up will be Senior Day for the Eagles.

ed by senior forward Hannah Wascher (Rantoul, Illinois), four University of Southern Indiana Women’s Basketball players reached double-figures in the scoring column as the No. 15/20 Screaming Eagles rolled to a 74-50 Great Lakes Valley Conference victory over host Maryville University Saturday afternoon.

Wascher racked up 26 points and 16 rebounds as USI bounced back from a disappointing loss to the University of Missouri-St. Louis Thursday.

After using a 5-0 run to end the first period with a 13-9 lead, USI found itself clinging to a 16-15 advantage with eight minutes to play in the opening half.

The Eagles (21-4, 13-2 GLVC) proceeded to outscore the Saints 15-4 throughout the next eight minutes as they forged a 31-19 lead with 20 seconds left in the half. Wascher had eight of her 10 first-half points and four of her seven first-half rebounds during the run as USI built a double-digit lead.

Maryville (11-11, 7-8 GLVC), which added a basket at the buzzer to go into the break facing a 31-21 halftime deficit, made just 2-of-15 in the final eight minutes of the half.

USI used a six-minute stretch that spilled into the early stages of the fourth quarter to eliminate any chance of a Maryville comeback. Five different players scored for the Eagles as they used a 17-7 run to an eight-point cushion into a commanding 54-36 lead with just over nine minutes to play in the contest.

The Eagles, who led by as much as 26 points, dominated the glass with a 50-33 rebounding advantage. USI outscored the Saints 48-28 in the paint and held a 23-6 lead in second-chance points.

In addition to Wascher, junior guard/forward Kaydie Grooms (Marshall, Illinois) finished with 12 points and two assists, while junior forward Morgan Dahlstrom (Grayslake, Illinois) chipped in 10 points and eight rebounds. Senior guard Tanner Marcum (New Albany, Indiana) added 10 points and a game-high five assists for the Eagles, who had just nine turnovers as a team.

Junior guard Ali Ringering had 13 point and six rebounds to lead the Saints, who were held to just 32.7 percent (17-52) from the field and 3-of-16 (.188) from three-point range. USI shot 44.9 percent (31-69) from the field and was 5-of-18 from behind the arc (.278).

USI returns to action Thursday at 5:30 p.m. when it hosts the University of Illinois Springfield at the Physical Activities Center. The Eagles, who will wear pink as they Play4Kay Thursday, can clinch a first-round bye in the GLVC Tournament with a win in their final three regular-season games.