EVANSVILLE, Ind. – University of Southern Indiana Women's Basketball hits the road for the first time in the 2024-25 season Friday when the Screaming Eagles travel to the University of Louisville and face the 17^th-ranked Cardinals. Tipoff at the KFC Yum! Center is at 6 p.m. CT.
 
Friday's game can be seen on ACC Network Extra and heard on The Spin 95.7 FM.
 
Southern Indiana (1-0) and Louisville (0-1) will be meeting for the first time on Friday. The game will mark the first time USI faces an Atlantic Coast Conference team and a top-25 team since making the jump to Division I in 2022. The Screaming Eagles have already faced teams from the Big Ten Conference, Big 12 Conference, and Southeastern Conference in the previous two seasons. USI is 17-27 in road openers since 1980-81.
 
The Screaming Eagles opened the regular season earlier this week on Monday with a 100-49 win against Brescia University (Ky.) inside Liberty Arena, home of the Screaming Eagles. The victory was USI's 30^th season-opening win in program history and 32^nd home-opening win since 1980-81. The game was highlighted by five double-digit scorers for USI, including a game-high 18 points by junior guard Ali Saunders.
 
During Monday's contest, senior guard Vanessa Shafford surpassed 1,000 career points, and graduate forward Meredith Raley pulled down her 500^th career rebound. The two Eagles became the 11^th and 12^th players in program history to score 1,000 points and claim 500 rebounds in a USI uniform.  Shafford and Raley scored 17 points a piece on Monday.
 
Additional notable performances in Monday's win included strong outings from sophomore forward Amiyah Buchanan and sophomore guard Sophia Loden. Buchanan made her USI debut with 13 points and six boards. Loden also tallied 13 points while corralling a game-high eight rebounds.
 
Southern Indiana's second-half defensive effort stood out in Monday's season opener. USI held Brescia to 17 points after halftime and forced 33 total turnovers. Saunders recorded a career-high six steals and sophomore guard Triniti Ralston had five takeaways. As a team, the Eagles totaled 22 steals, the most for USI since 2011-12. The last time USI had 20 or more steals was during the 2021-22 season.
 
Louisville opened its 2024-25 campaign Monday against No. 5 UCLA in Paris, France in the Alfac Oui-Play. The Bruins bested the Cardinals 66-59. Louisville's freshman guard Tajianna Roberts led both teams with 21 points. Senior guard Ja'Leah Williams added 11 points with nine assists and seven rebounds.
 
Southern Indiana is the first of three Ohio Valley Conference opponents in the next four games for the Cardinals. Louisville will travel to the University of Tennessee at Martin next Tuesday, and then the Cardinals will host Morehead State University on November 21.
 
Just like USI, the Louisville basketball program is also celebrating its 50^th season. Both programs' first year of basketball was 1975-76.