University of Evansville women’s basketball team embarks on a trip for a weekend series at Valparaiso

EVANSVILLE – Playing its first road games in the month of February, the University of Evansville women’s basketball team embarks on a trip for a weekend series at Valparaiso on Friday and Saturday in Valparaiso, Ind.
Credit Source: University of Evansville Athletics

Evansville at Valparaiso | 6 PM, Feb. 19 | 5 PM, Feb. 20
Date | Time	Fri., Feb. 19, 6 PM & Sat., Feb. 20, 5 PM
Location	Valparaiso, Ind.
Site	ARC
Feb. 19 & 20	Evansville at Valparaiso
Follow Along	Live Stats | ESPN3 (Game One) | ESPN3 (Game Two)
Evansville	Women’s Basketball Site | Twitter | Game Notes

Last Time Out: Loyola 61, Evansville 31

• For the second-straight night, sophomore Abby Feit powered the Aces with nine points, picking-up four boards for Evansville. Feit also showed her aggressiveness by drawing a team-high seven fouls in the loss.
• Just behind Feit were juniors Anna Newman (seven points) and A’Niah Griffin (six points).
• The Ramblers had three in double-figures led by Allison Day, who tallied 16 points in 19 minutes on the floor.
• Much like Friday, Loyola controlled the opening 10 minutes, out-scoring the Aces 18-4 in the first stanza.
• Evansville shot just 7.1% (1-14) from the floor in the opening quarter, while the Ramblers hit 7-of-17 (41.2%) shots from the field.
• Evansville bounced-back in the second half, scoring nine points in the quarter and showcasing strong defense, limiting Loyola to just 10 in the period as the Ramblers led 28-13 at the break.
• The Ramblers resumed their efficient shooting night in the third quarter, scoring a game-high 24 points right out of the gate in the second half, pushing their lead to 52-21 with 10 minutes remaining.
• The final quarter saw Evansville out-score the Ramblers, 10-9, as Loyola picked-up the 61-31 win.

Previewing the Matchup: Valparaiso

• Evansville and Valparaiso are meeting for the 19th time when the two sides meet on Friday with Valpo owning a 10-8 advantage in the series.
• Valpo enters Friday’s matchup having won back-to-back games against the Aces.
• In the last meeting between the two sides, Valpo captured a 72-54 win over Evansville on Feb. 6, 2020 at the ARC.
• Evansville’s 31 points against Loyola on Saturday was its lowest scoring output since scoring 30 points in a 69-30 loss at Dayton on Dec. 15, 2018.
• As the season passes the midway point for all 10 teams, both Evansville and Valpo are playing for MVC Tournament seeding. The Aces are eyeing their first time out of the #10 seed since 2017 Hoops in the Heartland and Valpo is looking to avoid playing on Thursday, currently sitting in seventh in the MVC.
• One of Evansville’s flaws this season has been a struggle to rebound the ball. This weekend, the Aces face Valpo, the team who sits in 10th in the MVC in both offensive and defensive rebounding.
• Evansville returns to the ARC, a place that has caused the Aces some problems in the past. The last three contests that the two teams have played in the ARC have been won by Valpo by an average of 34.7 points. On the inverse, Evansville is 5-5 at home all-time against Valpo, including its last home MVC win on Feb. 15, 2019.

Defense Holds Strong

• Despite practicing just once since Feb. 1, the Aces continued their strong defense against Loyola.
• Evansville held the Ramblers under 40% shooting in both games, marking the third-straight game and fourth game in the last five that UE has held their opponents to less than 40% from the field.

Partee Steps Up

• With Evansville’s offense struggling on Saturday night, junior forward NaTaya Partee stepped-up her game and turned-in good minutes for the Aces.
• Averaging just 8.1 minutes per game this season, Partee played over 17 minutes against Loyola on Saturday, making good use of her increased minutes, scoring four points and pulling-down five boards to help the Aces.