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 23rd 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.
