EVANSVILLE, Ind. – University of Southern Indiana Women's Basketball returns home to Screaming Eagles Arena this week when USI takes on Eastern Illinois University on Thursday and Southern Illinois University Edwardsville on Saturday. Both games are set for 5 p.m.
 
Both matchups can be seen live with a subscription to ESPN+ and heard on 95.7 FM The Spin (http://957thespin.com). Saturday's game against SIUE can also be heard on 97.7FM WREF.
 
USI Women's Basketball will host the annual Play4Kay Cancer Awareness game on Thursday. Fans are encouraged to wear pink to pink out Screaming Eagles Arena. Saturday against SIUE will be Homecoming and Hall of Fame Night.
 
Southern Indiana (14-6, 9-1) will be playing two of its three February home games this week, as six of nine games this month are away from Screaming Eagles Arena. The Screaming Eagles, who enter Thursday in first place by 2.5 games in the Ohio Valley Conference standings, split their two road games down in Tennessee last week. USI captured a nine-point win, 81-72, last Thursday at Tennessee Tech University but will be looking to rebound after a seven-point loss, 65-58, on Saturday at Tennessee State University. The Tigers protected their home court in Nashville by snapping Southern Indiana's 10-game winning streak and handing the Eagles their first setback of the OVC season.
 
In the game at Tennessee State, each side struggled to find an early rhythm in a defensive track meet in the first half. The Tigers' pressuring defense made things difficult, but USI still shot nearly 46 percent for the game. Southern Indiana was also 12-13 at the free-throw line. The Screaming Eagles' defense held Tennessee State to below 40 percent shooting, but the Tigers converted a few more threes and chances at the foul stripe. Individually, junior guard Vanessa Shafford (Linton, Indiana) paced USI with 15 points, scoring 10 or more for the 18^th consecutive game, while freshman forward Chloe Gannon (Manchester, Tennessee) added 10 points. Shafford averaged 15.5 points and 8.5 rebounds in the two games last week.
 
On the season, Shafford leads Southern Indiana at 14.8 points and 7.8 rebounds per game, which both rank among the top 10 in the OVC. Senior forwards Meredith Raley (Haubstadt, Indiana) and Madi Webb (Bedford, Indiana) are second and third on the team in scoring with 12.1 and 10.8 points per game, respectively.
 
As a team, USI averages 70.3 points on 43.7 percent shooting. Southern Indiana is top three in the league in scoring offense (70.3), scoring defense (63.7), field goal percentage (43.7), opposing field goal percentage (36.8), three-point percentage (33.4), and opposing three-point percentage (29.3). USI is also top three with 39.9 rebounds per game.
 
Eastern Illinois is 9-14 and 6-4 in OVC play. The Panthers dropped both of their games last week against the University of Tennessee at Martin, 80-65, and the University of Arkansas Little Rock, 55-48. Preceding last week's two defeats, Eastern Illinois had won four in a row. The Panthers average 64.2 points per contest on 41.1 percent shooting and are led in scoring and rebounding by junior forward Macy McGlone. McGlone is averaging a double-double of 17.7 points and 11.9 boards per outing.
 
SIUE (4-19, 1-9) earned a home split last week in its two games against Little Rock and UT Martin. The Cougars bested the Trojans, 67-61, for SIUE's only OVC win this season before falling to UT Martin, 75-46. The Cougars are averaging 69.4 points while shooting 39.6 percent from the field this season. SIUE is actively led in scoring by junior guard Sofie Lowis with 11.1 points per game, and sophomore guard Macy Silvey is also averaging double figures. The Cougars have been without one of their top players and Preseason All-OVC selection in graduate guard KK Rodriguez since early December.
 
Thursday is the only regular season meeting between Eastern Illinois and Southern Indiana, as USI will look to claim its first win in the all-time series history. The Panthers have won all four previous meetings, including an 11-point win in Charleston, Illinois, and a five-point overtime win at USI in 2022-23. Between those two meetings last season, Shafford tallied 36 combined points for USI.
 
SIUE and USI are renewing their longtime rivalry for the 54^th time on Saturday. Southern Indiana leads the series history, 28-25, after recording an 87-64 win in Edwardsville, Illinois, on January 11. In that contest, Webb posted a double-double of 18 points and 10 rebounds alongside Raley's double-double of 13 points and 11 boards for USI. The two sides split their matchups in 2022-23. The all-time series dates to the 1981-82 season.
 
Tickets for both games are on sale and can be purchased by visiting the USI Ticket Office online. For more information, call the USI Ticket Office at 812-465-1189.