Huntsville, Al.:  In his return from the ECHL, Scott Kirton made a tremendous impact, scoring twice and adding an assist.  However, it was not enough as the Thunderbolts fell 5-3 to the Havoc in Huntsville on Friday night.   The Thunderbolts’ next home game will be on Sunday, March 10^th against the Pensacola Ice Flyers, puck drop at 3:00pm CT.

Kirton scored the first goal of the game, his 50^th as an Evansville Thunderbolt, coming at 4:56 from Matthew Hobbs and Nick Prestia to give Evansville the first lead of the night.  However, an Evansville penalty turned the tide of momentum, as the Havoc scored on the power play for their first of four goals in less than six minutes to take a 4-1 lead, with goals from Dylan Stewart at 7:34, Alex Kielczewski at 9:04, Eric Henderson at 10:23, and David Thomson at 13:26.  The fourth goal resulted in a goaltending change as Brendahn Brawley was swapped for Ty Taylor. The change helped give the Thunderbolts a boost, as they shut down the Havoc for the rest of the first period and were able to get some pressure going in the attacking zone again.

The Thunderbolts’ best period was the second period, outshooting the Havoc 10-6 and scoring the lone goal, as Kirton scored unassisted at 15:24 to make it a 4-2 game.  The third period started strong as well, as Myles Abbate scored from Kirton only 26 seconds into the third period to bring Evansville to within only a 4-3 deficit.  Penalties ended their momentum however, as the Havoc scored another power play goal from Stewart at 11:23 to give the Havoc a 5-3 lead.  Despite gaining a 5-on-3 power play opportunity of their own shortly afterward, the Thunderbolts could not convert and were denied any further goals the rest of the way, falling by a 5-3 score.

  Kirton finished with two goals and an assist, while Abbate scored one goal.  In goal, Brawley made 11 saves on 15 shots before being swapped for Taylor, who stopped 24 of 25 shots the rest of the way.  The Thunderbolts and Havoc meet again on Saturday, March 9^th at Von Braun Center.

STARKVILLE, Miss. –  A three-run home run by Mississippi State outfielder Dakota Jordan in the bottom of the third inning proved to be the difference on Friday night, as the host Bulldogs picked up a 5-2 victory over the visiting University of Evansville baseball team in the series opener at Dudy Noble Field in Starkville, Mississippi.

“We had a chance tonight,” said UE head coach Wes Carroll.  “I thought our offense did a great job of putting us into position to have a chance in the seventh, eighth, and ninth innings tonight, but we just couldn’t get that next big hit to really unlock things.  You really have to credit their bullpen, as they did a great job of mixing and matching their relievers tonight.

“Overall, I thought we gave a great effort today, and it was just a really good college baseball game that didn’t go our way.  We are ready to get ourselves back in the series tomorrow.”

Jordan drilled a 1-2 fastball from UE starter Nick Smith (0-2) to left field for his sixth home run of the year to give the Bulldogs a 3-0 lead.  It came as part of a 4-for-4 night for Jordan, as he teamed with first baseman Hunter Hines to produce seven of Mississippi State’s 11 hits on the night, and drive in all five runs for the Bulldogs.

Following Jordan’s home run in the third inning, Evansville answered back with a run of its own in the fourth thanks to a triple off the wall in right field by senior first baseman Kip Fougerousse and a sacrifice fly by junior outfielder Ty Rumsey to cut the MSU lead to 3-1.  Jordan would follow in the fourth with another RBI single though, and Hines beat out an infield single to push the Mississippi State lead to 5-1.

The score would remain 5-1 until the seventh inning, when Evansville would load the bases and score a run on an infield RBI single by graduate third baseman Brent Widder.  UE would load the bases in the seventh, but back-to-back strikeouts would end UE’s threat.

Evansville would then bring the tying run to the plate in the eighth inning as well, after a double by graduate catcher Brendan Hord and a single by Rumsey, but the Bulldogs would once again escape the jam with a fly out and ground out.  Mississippi State closer Brooks Auger then worked around a single by Widder in the ninth inning to slam the door on Evansville for his second save of the year.

Widder paced Evansville offensively by going 3-for-5 with a double and an RBI.  Rumsey also went 2-for-3 with an RBI.  Overall, Evansville pounded out 11 base hits, including three doubles on the evening.  Reliever Shane Harris kept Evansville in the contest, as he entered the game in the fifth inning with two on and no one out, and tossed 4.0 scoreless innings of relief, while striking out five men.

“The job that Shane Harris did tonight was special,” said Carroll.  “To come in with runners on first and second and no one out and then to put up a goose egg was huge.  And, he just continued to battle all night from there and really did a great job of giving us a chance.  I am really proud of his effort tonight.”

With the victory, Mississippi State improves to 10-4 on the season, as the Bulldogs run their win streak to seven-straight games.  Evansville, meanwhile, falls to 7-6 with the loss.  The series will continue on Saturday afternoon at 4 p.m., as UE will send senior LHP Donovan Schultz to the mound for the start.  Saturday’s game can be seen live on the SEC Network+ streaming service.

Toumi leads UE in Friday contest

1. LOUIS – Tucker DeVries scored a game-high 19 points to pace Drake to a 79-58 victory over the University of Evansville men’s basketball team in Friday’s Arch Madness contest inside the Enterprise Center.

“We want to start by congratulating Drake.  They set the tone with the physicality on the defensive end and it took us a little while to settle in.  It evened out in the second half but it was a little too late,” Evansville head men’s basketball coach David Ragland stated.  “I could not be more proud of our group; we have phenomenal people in that locker room.  I would not change that experience for the world.  Tonight does not define us or who we are.”

Yacine Toumi led the Purple Aces with 14 points and 9 rebounds.  Kenny Strawbridge Jr. and Chuck Bailey III had 9 points apiece while Antonio Thomas registered 8.  DeVries led a trio of Bulldogs in double figures.

Drake’s quick start saw them open a 5-0 lead.  Evansville quickly countered by scoring seven in a row to take their first lead at 7-5.  After scoring Evansville’s first basket of the game, Yacine Toumi forced a turnover and took it in for the slam to make it a 5-4 game.  That is when Ben Humrichous got on the board with a triple to put UE in front.

Evansville stayed within a possession for the majority of the first half.  After the Bulldogs took 6-point edge, Chuck Bailey III hit a nice floater as he drove down the lane and the Aces chopped the deficit back down to three.  With 5:16 left in the half, Kevin Overton capped a 7-0 Drake run as they took the first double digit lead of the game at 28-18.

Tanner Cuff made a nice move to cut to the basket and end a scoring drought of just under four minutes before the Bulldogs added seven in a row to extend their lead to 15 as the half entered its final two minutes.  The rally for Drake continued as they went into the halftime break with a 43-22 lead.  Over the final 8:10 of the period, DU outscored UE by a 22-4 margin.

Converting its first three field goal attempts of the second half, the Purple Aces chopped the deficit down to 17 points.  Kenny Strawbridge Jr. registered the first basket of the second half while Gage Bobe added a triple and Toumi moved into double figures with his fifth basket of the contest.  Another quick spurt by the Bulldogs saw them take a 54-31 advantage with 16:27 remaining.

The final 16 minutes of the night saw the lead hover between 18 and 26 points.  UE was poised to cut the deficit to under 18 as it attempted a comeback, but Drake answered each time and completed the night with the 79-58 win.  The Bulldogs completed the night shooting 41.9% while the Aces checked in at 41.8%.  Drake finished with a 37-31 edge on the boards.

UE finished the season with 16 victories is awaiting the potential opportunity for postseason play.

“We are going to talk about it and see what is best for us as a team,” Ragland said.  “Leaving things better than you find them is important and the respect this group has earned from other teams in the Valley, around the country, officials and fans around the country has been impressive.  Just to be talking about it is a great thing for our program.”

EVANSVILLE, Ind. – University of Southern Indiana Women’s Basketball seized its first-ever Ohio Valley Conference Championship Tournament win Friday afternoon with a 69-54 semifinal victory over Eastern Illinois University at Ford Center in downtown Evansville, advancing the Screaming Eagles to the championship final on Saturday at 2 p.m.

With each side trying to settle into Friday’s semifinal contest, the first points came two minutes in by USI senior forward Madi Webb (Bedford, Indiana). Webb finished strong inside to capitalize on a three-point play. Southern Indiana’s defense held Eastern Illinois scoreless for the first four minutes of the game. Made shots were hard to come by for the opening period, as each team shot under 30 percent in the first quarter. The Screaming Eagles led 11-9 through the first 10 minutes of action.

Just past the first minute of play in the second quarter, Southern Indiana converted another three-point play. Senior forward Meredith Raley (Haubstadt, Indiana) absorbed the foul and knocked down the shot while falling away from the basket, giving USI a four-point lead. In the middle of the second frame, the Screaming Eagles cashed in six consecutive shots from the floor to create a 26-16 advantage around the four-minute mark. USI’s post players continued to go to work inside. Webb recorded another three-point play with two minutes remaining until halftime to put USI up 31-20. However, Eastern Illinois concluded the first half on a 7-0 run to cut the Screaming Eagles’ lead down to 31-27 at the intermission.

Following halftime, a competitive start to the second half led to multiple ties in the early minutes of the third quarter. At the seven-minute mark of the third, Webb dropped in back-to-back baskets to USI back ahead by four, 37-33. The forward joined Raley in double figures for the game. EIU made another push to tie the game, but freshman forward Chloe Gannon (Manchester, Tennessee) canned consecutive makes to once again put USI up by four. The Panthers were able to get to within one possession for most of the back half of the third quarter, but a basket from Raley and a last-second bucket by junior guard Vanessa Shafford (Linton, Indiana) gave Southern Indiana a 50-45 advantage going to the fourth stanza.

In the first 75 seconds of the fourth quarter, graduate guard Tori Handley (Jeffersonville, Indiana) and Raley splashed back-to-back triples to make the score 56-46 USI. The Screaming Eagles continued to find success inside, as consecutive buckets from Gannon with one in transition increased Southern Indiana’s lead to 62-49. Down the stretch, Southern Indiana went with a systematic approach to run some time off the clock. A three-pointer and a layup by sophomore guard Ali Saunders (Depauw, Indiana) iced the victory to advance Southern Indiana to Saturday’s championship game.

On Friday, Southern Indiana grasped its 23^rd win of the 2023-24 season, matching USI’s best overall record since the 2021-22 campaign. The Screaming Eagles were 46 percent (28-61) from the floor with five triples and went 8-10 at the foul line. USI cleaned up the glass, outrebounding EIU 45-37. USI also finished with 38 points in the paint. Individually, Webb had a game-high 18 points, Raley poured in 17 points with nine rebounds, and Gannon notched 15 points. Saunders flirted with a triple-double, registering 10 points, nine rebounds, and 11 assists. The sophomore guard’s rebound and assist totals were new individual career marks.

Eastern Illinois moved to a 15-18 overall record with the loss. The Panthers had three players score 10 or more, led by junior Miah Monahan’s 15 points. Eastern Illinois was held to 31 percent (20-64) from the floor with six three-pointers while going 8-13 at the charity stripe.

Compared to recent history, USI’s 2023-24 OVC regular season championship already put Southern Indiana with the likes of South Dakota State University, which won the 2007-08 Summit League regular season title in its final year of transition to Division I.  The University of North Dakota also achieved the same in its second reclassification year with a Great West Conference season title in 2009-10. With a win on Saturday and an OVC Tournament championship, Southern Indiana would join North Dakota’s 2011-12 team (Great West Conference) and California Baptist University’s 2020-21 team (Western Athletic Conference) to win a regular season and conference tournament championship in the same season during a transition period.

Southern Indiana will battle No. 3 seed University of Tennessee at Martin in Saturday’s championship game at 2 p.m. from Ford Center. The Skyhawks defeated No. 2 seed University of Arkansas at Little Rock, 54-48, in Friday’s second semifinal to secure the OVC’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament with USI not eligible due to NCAA program reclassification rules.

USI is 1-2 all-time against UT Martin, as the Screaming Eagles defeated the Skyhawks on the road in their only regular-season meeting this year in mid-February. USI won 73-67 behind 20 points by Saunders and a double-double of 17 points and 12 rebounds from Gannon.

UT Martin is 16-15 overall and went 11-7 in the OVC regular season. Prior to their win against Little Rock on Friday, the Skyhawks defeated Tennessee Tech University, 79-71, in the tournament quarterfinals on Thursday. UT Martin averages 64.1 points per game on 44.2 percent shooting. The Skyhawks are led by all-conference selections in redshirt freshman Kenley McCarn and sophomore Anaya Brown. The two average 16.7 and 15.1 points, respectively.

The OVC Women’s Basketball Championship Tournament finale can be seen live with a subscription to ESPN+. 95.7 FM The Spin and 97.7 FM WREF will also have radio coverage.

There will be a USI pregame pep rally Saturday at Tiki on Main before the championship game tips off from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.

RICHMOND, Ken. – University of Southern Indiana Women’s Tennis (3-6) went on the road and upset Eastern Kentucky University (7-10) at the Greg Adams Tennis Center Friday morning. The Screaming Eagles took down the Colonels, 4-3, in come-from-behind fashion after going down 3-1 early in the match.
 
Doubles: USI stole the doubles decision thanks to the senior duo of Rachel McCorkle (Tulsa, Oklahoma)/Lauren Rowe (Terre Haute, Indiana) won their dual at number two, 6-3, before junior Madison Windham (Clarksville, Tennessee)/freshman Antonia Ferrarini (Caxias do Sul, Brazil) combination sealed EKU’s fate with a 6-4 win at number three.
 
Singles: Despite losing the first three singles matchups, the Eagles stormed back with three-straight victories. Ferrarini kicked off the surge with a 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 win at number three right before freshman Anais Negrail (Maisons-Alfort, France) picked up the 6-4, 6-7, 6-3 decision at number four. Capping off the Eagles’ run was freshman Sofia Davidoff (Lagny-sur-Marne, France) who took down her opponent 6-3, 4-6, 6-0 in thrilling fashion.