The Purple Aces opened Missouri Valley Conference play on Sunday afternoon with the first day of the game among all 12 teams. UE fell to the reigning MVC Champions Drake in a 76-54 final at the Ford Center in Evansville’s second straight game at the downtown arena. The Aces had their best game forcing turnovers against a Division I opponent on Sunday. UE had 12 steals in 40 minutes during the Valley opener while forcing a total of 20 turnovers from Drake for the Bulldogs second-highest turnover game of the season.
Evansville will have its first road game and series in Valley play at the end of the week. The Aces begin the time away from the River City with a stop in Peoria on Thursday night for a 6 p.m. game with Bradley. UE then heads to Normal for a Saturday afternoon match up with Illinois State at 4 p.m. where they’ll play against former Evansville forward Nevaeh Thomas.
The Bradley Braves enter Thursday’s game after a close loss to Belmont on Sunday afternoon. The Braves made a 17-point comeback in the final 14 minutes but it wouldn’t be quite enough to overcome the Bruins in the 69-61 loss. Bradley is led by senior guard Soleil Barnes who transferred to the Braves after spending three years with the Toledo Rockets. Barnes is the only player on Bradley’s roster averaging double figures with 15.1 points a game.
The Illinois State Redbirds enter the weekend with a 6-6 overall record after dropping their first conference game to Murray State. Despite leading at the end of the first half and most of the third quarter Illinois State couldn’t hang on against the red hot Murray State Racers in the 91-80 defeat. The Redbirds will take on Indiana State before playing the Aces on Saturday afternoon. Illinois State has a quartet of double digit scorers in sophomore guard Shannon Dowell (15.5), graduate guard Elyce Knudsen (13.9), sophomore forward Nevaeh Thomas (13.0), and redshirt junior forward Addison Martin (10.4).
Senior guard Júlia Palomo continued to set career numbers in UE’s return to the court. After having a career-high game behind the arc to close out non-conference play, Palomo set a defensive high to open Valley action. Palomo led Evansville under the glass with seven rebounds against Drake, the MVC leaders on the defensive side of the ball.
