EVANSVILLE, Ind. – University of Southern Indiana Women's Basketball embarks on an in-state trip Sunday when the Screaming Eagles head to Purdue University for a 1 p.m. CT tilt at Mackey Arena.
Sunday's game can be seen on Big Ten Plus and heard on 95.7 FM The Spin.
Southern Indiana (3-1) will play its second contest of a two-game road swing. The Screaming Eagles will also face their second Power-5 opponent in the last week and the second of three P-5 opponents in the non-conference slate.
After a 3-0 start to the season at home, USI hit the road for the first time last Monday at the University of Missouri. Southern Indiana fell 96-62 for its first loss of the season.
Monday's contest at Missouri featured a good start for the Screaming Eagles. USI jumped out to a 13-8 lead in the first four and a half minutes, but then Missouri cranked up the offense and the outside shooting to overcome the early deficit and never relinquished the lead.
The Eagles shot 38 percent overall on Monday, hitting seven threes. Junior guard
Vanessa Shafford (Linton, Indiana) led USI in scoring with 16 points, and senior forward
Meredith Raley (Haubstadt, Indiana) tallied 11 points.
Through four games, USI is averaging 70.3 points per game on 44.9 percent shooting, which is third in the Ohio Valley Conference. The Eagles are hitting an OVC-best 38.2 percent from three and collect 40 rebounds per game.
Individually, Shafford paces USI at 13 points while shooting 52.4 percent overall. Shafford's team-best eight rebounds and 2.8 steals per outing are second in the OVC. Raley is registering 10 points per game alongside senior forward
Madi Webb (Bedford, Indiana) and redshirt senior guard
Addy Blackwell (Bloomington, Indiana).
Blackwell has returned to form this season after missing all of 2022-23 with injury and recovery. The guard was one of USI's top shooting threats in 2021-22, connecting from above 40 percent overall and from three. So far, in 2023-24, Blackwell is once again one of the Eagles' best shooters, shooting 50 percent from the floor and nearly 59 percent from beyond the arc. Her three-point percentage is currently among the top 10 in the nation.
Purdue (2-3) returns home to Mackey Arena after a two-game trip to the Baha Mar Hoops Pink Flamingo Championships in Nassau, The Bahamas. The Boilermakers fell against two Southeastern Conference opponents in The Bahamas, dropping a 52-49 contest against the University of Florida on Monday before a 65-57 loss to the University of Georgia on Wednesday. Against Georgia, the Bulldogs had a two-point lead after three quarters and went on to outscore the Boilermakers by six in the final frame. Purdue had four players in double figures with senior guard Madison Layden leading the way with 14 points.
On the season, Purdue is averaging 58.8 points per game on 37.7 percent shooting with 33.6 rebounds per outing. Fifth-year senior guard Abbey Ellis tops the squad with 13.8 points per contest. Purdue's sixth-year senior forward Caitlyn Harper is second in scoring at 10.6 points and first in rebounding at 5.8 rebounds per game. Fifth-year senior guard Jeanae Terry has dished out a team-best 5.4 assists while recording 5.6 rebounds and 4.4 points per game for the Boilermakers.
Sunday is the first all-time meeting in the regular season between the two programs, as the two schools have met previously in preseason exhibitions.
