Squads to meet up Friday through Sunday

 EVANSVILLE, Ind. – Looking to keep the momentum rolling after an extra inning walk-off win on Wednesday, the University of Evansville softball team plays host to Valparaiso for a 3-game weekend series at Tri-State Orthopaedics Field and James and Dorothy Cooper Stadium.  The teams will play a 3-game series Friday through Sunday.

Evansville opened its Missouri Valley Conference slate against Indiana State earlier this week, splitting a pair of games.  After the Sycamores won the opener, the Purple Aces staged a furious rally to take Wednesday’s game by a 6-5 final.  Lacy Smith had a pair of clutch RBI hits that sealed the win.  Her single in the bottom of the 6^th tied the game at 3-3.

Following a scoreless 7^th frame, Indiana State plated two runs to take the lead in the top of the 8^th.  Marah Wood led the bottom half of the 8^th with a home run to left field.  Brooke Voss reached on a walk before moving to third on a double by Abby Bode.  Smith came to the plate and delivered once again, sending Evansville to the 6-5 walk-off win.

Sydney Weatherford made the start, allowing three runs in four innings.  Megan Brenton earned the win, tossing the final four frames with two runs, one earned, crossing the plate.

Valparaiso comes to Evansville with a 6-15 record.  Last Saturday, the Beacons earned a -5 win over Rider.  This will mark the first MVC game for Valpo.  They are led by Kam Utendorf, who is hitting .438 with 21 hits and eight runs scored.

MATTOON, Ill. – The Vincennes University Lady Trailblazers earned their spot in the NJCAA Division I Region 24 Championship game for the second year in a row. Waiting for them was a familiar foe in No. 2-ranked Wabash Valley College.

The Lady Blazers fought hard throughout the game but unfortunately came up on the wrong end of a 95-79 final score.

Vincennes did not get off to a good start Thursday night at Lake Land College, with Wabash Valley quickly jumping ahead of VU 6-0 early in the first quarter.

After a timeout to settle things down, the Lady Blazers would answer back with an 8-2 run of their own to even the score at 8-8.

Wabash Valley would counter with a 10-3 run and close out the first quarter outscoring VU 11-5 to take a 19-13 lead after the first 10 minutes of play.

The Lady Warriors added on to their lead in the second quarter, opening the second period by outscoring VU 17-9 to take a 43-22 lead.

Play was halted briefly as severe weather in the area of Mattoon Thursday night caused a 15-minute weather delay with under a minute to go in the first half.

After play resumed the two teams traded baskets to head into the halftime break with the Lady Trailblazers trailing Wabash Valley 45-29.

VU looked to have their best run at Wabash Valley to start the second half, with VU freshman Makyla Tucker (Indianapolis, Ind.) scoring eight straight points for VU as the Blazers cut the Lady Warriors lead down to 51-39.

Wabash Valley would get their lead back up to 19 later in the third quarter, but the Lady Blazers again refused to go away as Vincennes cut the deficit to 71-55 heading into the final 10 minutes of play.

Vincennes started to get the crowd behind them in the fourth quarter and were able to ride the momentum to getting within 12 points of Wabash Valley, before the Lady Warriors responded with a 10-2 scoring run.

VU again looked to gain some traction with six unanswered points but were unfortunately stopped by six unanswered for Wabash Valley.

The Lady Warriors were able to run the clock down the stretch with VU Hall of Fame Head Coach electing to play the final minutes with all five of his sophomores on the floor as Wabash Valley closed out the 95-79 victory over VU.

The Lady Trailblazers were led Thursday night by a monster double-double by sophomore Elikya Baseyila (Paris, France) who finished with 19 points and 18 rebounds, including 15 points coming in the second half of play.

Freshman Makyla Tucker came off the bench to 13 points, 11 of which coming in the second half.

Freshman Destinee Hooks (Indianapolis, Ind.) had to battle some tough defense all night and still almost came away with a double-double, ending her night with 13 points, nine rebounds, five assists and three steals.

Freshman Karina Scott (Noblesville, Ind.) was the fourth VU scorer in double figures, getting the VU offense going early to score 10 of her 13 points in the first half, while also picking up a pair of steals.

Sophomore Maycee Lange (Vincennes, Ind.) came off the bench to hit all three of her shot attempts to finish with six points, while fellow sophomores Katrina Litte (Valmiera, Latvia) and Brie Miller (Bainbridge, Ind.) ended with five points and four points respectively.

Litte would also lead the Lady Blazers with six assists, while Miller grabbed five rebounds and tied Hooks for the team-high three steals on the night.

Thursday night’s loss likely ends the season for the Lady Trailblazers with a final record of 19-11, including winning 16 of their last 20 games of the season.

The loss also spells the end of the VU careers of the Lady Trailblazers’ five sophomores, Elikya Baseyila, Maycee Lange, Brie Miller, Katrina Litte and Najra Voloder (Konjic, Bosnia).

This sophomore group closed out their two seasons in the Blue and Gold with a final record of 40-22 and back-to-back runner up finishes in the Region 24 tournament.

The Purple Aces end the 2023-24 season at 4-28

MOLINE, Ill. – The University of Evansville women’s basketball team couldn’t overcome the Illinois State Redbirds in the first round of Hoops in the Heartland.

The Purple Aces saw their season come to an end in the first round of the MVC Hoops in the Heartland postseason tournament. UE struggled to stop Illinois State’s offense and find consistent offense in the loss. But three Evansville players found their way into double figures while freshman forward Nevaeh Thomas led the team with 23 points and a season-high four steals.

“I’m really proud of my team,” said Head Coach Robyn Scherr-Wells following the loss. “We fought really hard. We didn’t always execute everything exactly how we hoped for going into this game. But it’s been a tough season with a lot of different injuries and a lot of different lineups for us.

“I think our team showed an amount of toughness throughout the season as they fought to get better. And I think they have. It doesn’t always show up in the win’s column. But this is a really young team and I’m so proud of them. I think we’re laying a really good foundation for our future,”.

Freshman forward Maggie Hartwig kicked off the game with a bang for the Aces, sinking a three-pointer in the first minute and a half. But UE’s offense struggled to get going after a three-minute cold spell. Evansville wasn’t able to string a run together in the first quarter, falling behind by 12 points following the first 10 minutes of play.

The Aces started clicking in the second frame as they opened the quarter going shot-for-shot with the Redbirds. UE strung together a four-point run early that Illinois State responded to with a five-point run. But a big three from guard Lexie Sinclair with under five to go cut Evansville’s deficit into single digits. The Redbirds tore off on a seven-point run to put the Aces down by 16 points.

A foul got UE back into the game on offense as guard Kynidi Mason Striverson hit two at the line. She hit an open three just over a minute later to end Evansville’s scoring in the first half. The Aces headed into the locker room down by 18 after the second.

UE put up the first five points of the second half as Sinclair hit a second three in the first minute thirty. Illinois State put together two small scoring runs but Evansville continued to break up the runs with field goals. But five straight points over 30 seconds for the Redbirds had the Aces trailing by 22. UE broke out onto one of their largest runs of the day with six straight points to get back within 16. But only two free throws over the final two minutes of the third quarter had Evansville facing a 23-point deficit with only 10 minutes to play.

It was a back-and-forth pace early in the fourth but down by over 20 matching shots didn’t get the Aces within striking distance of Illinois State. Midway through the quarter, neither team was able to make a basket for almost three minutes. The Redbirds broke the scoreless streak but UE had four straight points from Thomas at the free throw line. But a late three from Illinois State ended Evansville’s brief run, stopping any potential comeback in the 85-64 loss.

Thomas led the Aces on offense while Hartwig added 16 points and graduate center Barbora Tomancova had 10 before fouling out early in the fourth. Thomas and Hartwig also led UE on defense with five rebounds each. Thomas also had Evansville’s only block of the game.

The Aces end the season with a 4-28 record while going 2-18 during Missouri Valley Conference play. UE says goodbye to Tomancova and Sinclair as the seniors graduate from the University of Evansville in the spring.

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Indiana swimming and diving expanded its NCAA Championships roster to 26 combined men and women after five divers qualified for the national meet from the NCAA Zone C Diving Championships Thursday (March 14) inside Ralph Wright Natatorium on the campus of the University of Louisville.

Indiana’s five qualifiers was the most from any program on the first day of the regional meet. Three men qualified on the 3-meter springboard, and two women advanced on 1-meter.

“Our team had a good start to the zone meet today,” IU head diving coach Drew Johansen said. “Our veterans showed their experience today with 5 A cuts by our upperclassman. This will strengthen both the men’s and women’s teams at the NCAA Championships.”

Zone C continues action this weekend as the athletes build out their programs for the 2024 NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships later this month. Springboard competitions resume Friday (March 15) followed by platform diving Saturday (March 15).

Junior Big Ten 3-meter champion Carson Tyler and classmate Quinn Henninger were the top two divers in the men’s event. Tyler totaled 910.65 points on the day, over 40 points better than the field. Henninger, last year’s NCAA bronze medalist on the board, finished second with an 869.35. Needing to finish top 10, sophomore Maxwell Weinrich clinched his second NCAA Championships with a score of 752.85 that placed him ninth.

Seven qualifying spots were available from a tightly contested women’s 1-meter competition. Senior Anne Fowler led the way with a score of 606.60. Big Ten Diver of the Championships Skyler Liu took fourth place with a 598.05. Freshman Lily Witte missed seventh place by just 2.65 points, and classmate Ella Roselli (549.75) was the fourth Hoosier in the final and finished 11th. However, the freshman duo can still qualify for the national 1-meter competition as top-12 finishers if they can secure automatic bids on either the 3-meter springboard or platform.

“Lily and Ella both earned ‘B’ cuts today, and, if we can build on that momentum, they will have a chance to dive in multiple events at the NCAA meet,” Johansen said.

RESULTS
WOMEN’S 1-METER
1. Anne Fowler – 606.60 (NCAA Qualifier)

4. Skyler Liu – 598.05 (NCAA Qualifier)
5. Lily Witte – 574.40 (Finalist)
6. Ella Roselli – 549.75 (Finalist)
7. Morgan Casey – 226.35

   MEN’S 3-METER
   1. Carson Tyler – 910.65 (NCAA Qualifier)

8. Quinn Henninger – 869.35 (NCAA Qualifier)
9. Maxwell Weinrich – 752.85 (NCAA Qualifier)
10. William Jansen – 269.30

    UP NEXT
    The men and women will swap springboards Friday (March 15) as each Hoosier looks to add another event to their NCAA Championships schedule.