EVANSVILLE, Ind. – University of Southern Indiana Men’s Tennis (1-7) dropped its sixth-straight match after a tight 4-3 loss to Northern Kentucky University (5-5) Sunday afternoon at Wesselman Park. Despite both sides being in the Horizon League, this match was a non-conference dual with each team being in different divisions.

Doubles: The Screaming Eagles fell short in doubles play to lose the doubles point.

Singles: USI suffered a slow start at numbers one, five, and six to hand NKU the match victory. Even after suffering a loss to the Norse, three Eagles secured wins to make it a close race. Sophomore Axel Sabourin (Marseille, France) ignited USI’s run with a 1-6, 7-5, 1-0 victory at number two. Sophomore Mathys Bove (Lyon, France) followed up at the three spot with a tight 7-6, 2-6, 1-0 win before junior Quinten Gillespie (Whiteland, Indiana) capped off the afternoon with a long 6-4, 6-7, 1-0 decision in the four hole.a

The Purple Aces outmatched the Bruins at the free throw line for 81.8%

NASHVILLE – In the final road game of the season, the University of Evansville women’s basketball team couldn’t find its way past the Belmont Bruins in the 80-55 loss.

The Purple Aces struggled to contain the Bruins offense on Sunday afternoon in their final road match-up of the 2023-2024 season. Two players for UE ended the game in double figures as forward Maggie Hartwig led the team with 21 points and 10 rebounds. Forward Nevaeh Thomas was the other Evansville player with double figures while also drawing a team-high eight fouls.

The Aces got off to a quick start at Curb Event Center, leading early on a second-chance layup from Hartwig. Belmont responded with a seven-point run that was ended by guard Kynidi Mason Striverson’s first three of the afternoon. The teams traded buckets over the next three minutes. Thomas ended the back-and-forth pace with a three-point play to tie the game. But the Bruins ended the quarter on a seven-point run to retake the lead.

It took UE almost two minutes to find the basket in the second quarter as Belmont grew its lead to double digits. Evansville got the deficit back down into single digits on a five-point run midway through the second. But the Bruins responded with a brief run to regrow the lead. Mason Striverson hit another three with a little over two minutes left in the half making it a 10-point game. But the Aces wouldn’t score the rest of the half, heading into the locker room down by 16.

The teams traded shots to begin the second half until Belmont had an eight-point run over three minutes. Both squads struggled to make shots in the final seven minutes of the third quarter. UE had three points over the final three minutes while the Bruins had just two. Evansville headed into the final 10 minutes in Nashville trailing by 22.

The Aces had their best offensive quarter of the game in the fourth, adding 20 points over 10 minutes. Hartwig took over the game for UE with seven points in the first three minutes of the quarter while Evansville had its largest run of the game with six points.  But Belmont responded with a three-point run followed by an eight-point run for a 27-point lead. The Aces chipped away at the lead over the final four minutes, but eventually fell to the Bruins 80-55.

While Hartwig led UE in both scoring and rebounding, Mason Striverson came an assist shy of a career game. The sophomore guard added eight assists in Nashville while Thomas led the team with three steals. Thomas also recorded Evansville’s lone block of the game.

The Aces will wrap up the 2023-24 season at home with their two final games in Meeks Family Fieldhouse. UE will first welcome the regular season champions Drake to Evansville on Thursday night. Tip-off for the Aces against the Bulldogs is set for 6 p.m. on March 7.

Hughes leads Evansville with 15 points

 NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Finishing the day shooting an even 50% from the field, Belmont defeated the University of Evansville men’s basketball team by a final score of 83-66 on Sunday afternoon in the Curb Event Center.

Three Purple Aces reached double figures with Josh Hughes pacing the team with 15 points.  He connected on six of his 11 attempts including three triples.  Kenny Strawbridge Jr. was just behind with 14 points while Cam Haffner finished with 10.  Hughes and Strawbridge led the Purple Aces with eight rebounds apiece.  Five Bruins scored in double digits with Ja’Kobi Gillespie recording a game-high 18 points.

“We were able to mix some different groups and show a few different schemes today and gave ourselves a chance to compete.  I thought we started very well, especially on the defensive side,” UE head coach David Ragland said.  “Belmont is a great team and we knew they would come back.  They punched us in the mouth a little bit but our guys never gave up and kept fighting.”

Josh Hughes had it going in the early moments, knocking down a pair of 3-pointers to give the Purple Aces a 6-0 lead.  Defensively, UE held the Bruins to a 0-for-4 start from the field with Kenny Strawbridge Jr. connecting on a layup to solidify an 8-0 lead before the first media timeout of the game.

After getting on the board, Belmont scored seven in a row to cut their deficit to 8-7 at the 14:10 mark.  Evansville continued to set the pace as a layup from Antonio Thomas pushed the lead to 12-7 before his first 3-point make of the game pushed the lead to 17-9 just past the midway point of the half.

Belmont stormed back to tie the score with an 8-0 stretch inside of the 8-minute mark before Gage Bobe hit from downtown to put the lead right back in the Aces hands.  A 9-0 run by the Bruins saw them take their first lead of the day at 26-20 as the period entered its final five minutes.  Their largest advantage came after a three in the final seconds of the half that made it a 38-26 game at the break.

Out of the half, the Bruins scored 15 of the first 19 points to open a 53-30 lead.  With 10:30 left in the game, their lead reached 26 points at 67-41.  Evansville continued to play hard, posting the next seven tallies as Hughes knocked down another triple.  Things continued to hover around 20 points with the Aces getting within 17 and Belmont pushing the lead to 22 in the final three minutes.

In the end, the final deficit finished at 17 as Belmont took the game by a final of 83-66.  BU shot 50% on the day with the Aces finishing at 36.2%.

Arch Madness will begin on Thursday with the Aces entering as the #10 seed and facing the #7 seed Illinois State in St. Louis.  Tip is set for 6 p.m.

For the seventh-straight year, Evansville will host the OVC Men’s and Women’s Basketball Championships presented by United Fidelity Bank, March 6-9 at the Ford Center. The region will punch the first tickets to the NCAA men’s and women’s basketball tournaments.

 Who: Evansville Mayor, Stephanie Terry

           OVC Commissioner, Beth DeBauche

What: Press Conference

  Date:

Tuesday, March 5^th

 Time:

10:30 am CDT

Interviews available after

Location:

The Ford Center (Lobby)

EVANSVILLE, Ind. – University of Southern Indiana Women’s Tennis (2-6) lost the doubles point and first four singles matches to be on the wrong end of a 5-2 score against Northern Kentucky University (3-6) at Wesselman Park Sunday afternoon.
 
Doubles: The Screaming Eagles dropped two doubles decisions to lose the point to the Norse.
 
Singles: Even after NKU claimed the match victory, freshman Antonia Ferrarini (Caxias do Sul, Brazil) fought hard at number three with a 6-7, 6-3, 1-0 victory before freshman Sofia Davidoff (Lagny-sur-Marne, France) came from behind and took down her opponent at number five to cap off the match (5-7, 7-6, 1-0).