Just days after opening up their home schedule, the Purple Aces women’s basketball team returns to the road to face Nebraska on Tuesday evening at Pinnacle Bank Arena.

Game time on Tuesday is set for 7 p.m. and the game will be available on BTN Plus.

Evansville fell by a final of 73-54 in Saturday’s home opener versus Murray State.  Sara Dickey led the way for UE with 24 points while Ashley Hawkins fell just short of a double-double with 8 points and 8 rebounds.

After being held to single digits in the games against Santa Clara and Bowling Green, Sara Dickey rebounded in a big way in the home opener against Murray State.  Dickey hit 8 out of 19 shots on her way to 24 points.  Dickey knocked down three triples and 5 out of 6 free throws.  She continues to lead UE with 16 points per game and is the top rebounder with 4.9 per contest.

Camille Coleman had the best outing of her young career at Bowling Green, tallying 19 points while hitting six shots, four triples and all three free throws.  Coleman now has three double digit outings in seven games.  She is looking for more consistency in the other games as she has averaged under 4 points per game in the other contests.

One of the primary factors contributing to a 1-6 start for the Aces has been their propensity to turn it over.  In all seven games this season, UE has recorded more turnovers than assists.  Shooting has also been pivotal.  In the two games the Aces have shot over 41%, they earned a win and fell in double overtime.

Nebraska enters Tuesday’s tilt with a 6-1 overall record with their only blemish of the season coming against top-ranked Connecticut on the road.  The Cornhuskers are coming off of a pair of strong victories, defeating NC State by a final of 88-67 on Thursday before taking down Creighton, 65-63, on Saturday at Pinnacle Bank Arena.  Jessica Shepard is the top scorer for Nebraska, checking in with 19.4 points per game; she is also the second-ranked rebounder on the squad with 7.9 per outing.  Natalie Romeo has averaged 15.9 points and is one of the top free throw shooters in the nation as she has seen 90.9% of her attempts find the bottom of the net.

On Tuesday, the University of Evansville and Arkansas will meet for the first time on the hardwood as the Purple Aces travel to Fayetteville, Arkansas to take on the Razorbacks at Bud Walton Arena.

Set to be televised live on the SEC Network, the game will begin at 8 p.m. CT.

For the first time since December of 1991, Evansville defeated Murray State as UE earned an 85-81 overtime win against the Racers on Saturday at CFSB Center.  After trailing by 13 points in the early minutes of the game, UE battled back to trail by five at the break before taking the lead in the second half.  Evansville shot 56.1% in the game and now stands at 53.2%, which ranks fourth in the nation and tops in the MVC.

Tuesday’s game against the Razorbacks marks a couple of firsts for the UE program, most notably it will be the first meeting against Arkansas.  It will also mark the first appearance for the Aces on the SEC Network while it is the first visit to an SEC campus since Dec. 17, 2003 when the Aces traveled to Oxford, Miss. to face Ole Miss, falling by a final of 69-66.  Evansville visited Missouri in 2006, but that Mizzou was in the Big 12 at the time.

Egidijus Mockevicius has hauled in at least 11 rebounds in 7 out of 8 games this year and sits second in the nation with an average of 13.5 per game; he leads the MVC list by 5.9 per game.  His scoring has also been stellar as Mockevicius has notched 17.5 points per game, ranking fifth in the MVC; in his career, Mockevicius has scored 20 points or more on seven occasions in his career, four of those efforts have come in the last 7 games.

With 1,944 points in his career, D.J. Balentine ranks atop the active NCAA scoring list and his average of 22.3 points per game this year is tops in the MVC and 14th in the NCAA.  In the road win against Murray State, Balentine drained 12 of his 20 attempts, tying a career-high for made shots while also scoring a season-high of 32 points.

Arkansas has posted a 3-4 mark through its first seven contests of the season following an 88-85 loss at Wake Forest on Friday.  The Razorbacks are ranked in the top 25 in the country in points per game, notching 85.7 per contest.  Offensively, Arkansas has shot 46.1% while its opponents have shot 45.5%; one staple of the Razorbacks is their stifling defense, which has forced 113 turnovers.

Dusty Hannahs leads the Razorbacks with 17.6 points per game while hitting an unbelievable 25 out of his 26 free throw attempts on the season.  Next up for Arkansas is Moses Kingsley, who has notched 16.4 PPG while posting a team-high 9.7 rebounds.  Anthlon Bell (15.7 points) and Jimmy Whitt (10.3 points) also average double figures in scoring.

Mississippi Valley State comes to town on Saturday for a 3 p.m. game against the Purple Aces.

 The Evansville IceMen saw a 5-2 lead evaporate in the third period Sunday before losing a heartbreaker to the Quad City Mallards 6-5 in overtime at the Ford Center.

IceMen leading scorer Daultan Leveille put Evansville on the board 39 seconds into the game, when he fired a shot that ricocheted off the glove of a Quad City defenseman and into the net. It was Leveille’s third goal in the last two games. The Mallards tied the game at 7:01 when Guillaume Gelinas found Olivier Archambault open in front, and Archambault swept a shot past Evansville goalie Keegan Asmundson.

Quad City took its first lead of the game on a power play early in the second period, when Matt Carey blasted a one-timer into the top shelf from the point, but Evansville dominated the rest of the period. Alex Guptill scored his fifth goal in the last four games when Matthew Zay fed him in front of the net to make it 2-2.

Then Tyson Fawcett gave the IceMen the 3-2 lead on a deflection at the edge of the crease for his first of two goals in the game. The goal was originally credited to Leveille, but will be changed. Jordan Sims fired home a rebound past Mallards goalie Steve Michalekafter Troy Rutkowski rang a shot off the post to give Evansville a 4-2 lead entering the second intermission.

Fawcett scored the fourth straight IceMen goal short-handed on a give-and-go with Leveille on a 2-on-0 rush to make it 5-2. Quad City responded with four unanswered to steal the win. Zach Pochiro scored a power play goal from the slot 18 seconds after Fawcett’s to bring the Mallards within two.

Shortly after Evansville had a goal waived off on a controversial ruling that the puck was played with a high stick, Alex Gudbransonripped a shot off the post and in for Quad City’s fourth goal. Gelinas swatted in a loose puck out of a net-mouth scramble to tie the game 5-5 with 11:33 to play, and the two teams skated towards overtime.

In the 3-on-3 overtime period, an Evansville defenseman turned the puck over exiting the zone, and Jake Baker set up Mike Monfredo, who buried the game winner with 2:10 left to complete the Quad City comeback. Michalek stopped 39 shots in the win, while Asmundson saved 29 in the loss.

The two teams meet six more times, including four more at the Ford Center. The next meeting is December 30 in Moline, IL at the iWireless Center, and the teams play the following night, New Years Eve, in Evansville.

The IceMen have four games in five days this week, starting Wednesday when Evansville makes its first trip to Toledo for a 6:15 CST start against the Walleye. Fans can catch the action on www.evansvilleicemen.com or ECHL TV. Bar Louie in Evansville, the official headquarters for IceMen away games will also show the contest Wednesday night, with coverage starting at 6pm.

Evansville then hosts the Cincinnati Cyclones Friday at 7:15pm at the Ford Center. Tickets are available at www.ticketmaster.com or the Ford Center Ticket Office. Discounted tickets are available for groups of ten people or more by calling an IceMen Account Executive at 812-421-GOAL (4625).

The IceMen then head to Cincinnati Saturday night for the rematch at US Bank Arena, before wrapping up the week in Fort Wayne Sunday at Memorial Coliseum.