EVANSVILLE, Ind. – University of Southern Indiana Women's Basketball returns to the road this week when the Screaming Eagles travel to face the University of Tennessee at Martin on Thursday at 5 p.m. and Southeast Missouri State University on Saturday at 1:30 p.m. in Ohio Valley Conference play.
Both games this week can be seen with a subscription to ESPN+ and heard on The Spin 95.7 FM. Thursday's game at UT Martin is also scheduled to air locally over the antenna in the Evansville market on WFIE 14.3 Outlaw.
USI Women's Basketball (15-6, 9-3 OVC) heads into Thursday's contest tied for second in the Ohio Valley Conference standings alongside Morehead State University with a 9-3 conference record and a game back of first-place Western Illinois University.
USI is 5-3 on the road this season and is making its fourth trip of the season to Tennessee on Thursday. USI is 3-1 traveling to the state of Tennessee this season and is 6-1 overall on the campaign against teams from Tennessee. Between Saint Louis University during the non-conference season and facing Southeast Missouri at home earlier during the OVC slate, USI is 2-0 against its Missouri counterparts this year.
The Screaming Eagles are coming off a 67-46 home win against Southern Illinois University Edwardsville last Saturday that concluded a four-game homestand for the Eagles and snapped a brief two-game skid. After an even first quarter, USI pulled away from the Cougars with a dominant second quarter and never looked back.
Six Screaming Eagles scored in double figures against SIUE. The last time six USI players scored 10 or more in a game was November 2024. Senior guard
Ali Saunders led the way with 12 points, and junior forward
Chloe Gannon tallied 11 points. Junior forward
Amiyah Buchanan, junior guard
Sophia Loden, junior guard
Shannon Blacher, and redshirt sophomore guard
Kylee Dennis each recorded 10 points.
Saturday marked the second time this season that USI held SIUE to under 60 points. USI has held its opposition to under 60 points in 13 of its 15 wins this year. Saturday was the eighth time this season that USI has limited the opposition to under 50 points. The Screaming Eagles' scoring defense ranks first in the OVC and top 25 in the nation at 56.7 points allowed per contest.
Offensively, Saunders paces the team and is second in the OVC overall with 17.4 points per game. The senior is second in the conference in OVC play with 19.7 points per contest. Saunders also ranks top three in the OVC in assists (4.1 per game). Gannon is second on the squad in scoring with 12.8 points per outing, and junior guard
Sophia Loden is third at 11.2 points per game. Collectively, USI averages 70 points per game.
UT Martin (11-10, 7-5 OVC) sits in the middle of the pack in the OVC standings in the fifth spot following a 68-53 loss at home against the University of Arkansas at Little Rock on Tuesday night. The game was a rescheduled contest due to recent bad weather. Last week, UT Martin split on the road with a 62-46 win at Eastern Illinois University before dropping an 80-54 contest at Western Illinois.
Statistically, the Skyhawks are led in scoring this season by redshirt junior guard Kenley McCarn, who is averaging 16.1 points per game. Redshirt sophomore forward Zy Thompson is second on the team at 10.5 points per outing, with freshman guard Sidni Middleton not too far behind at 9.7 points per game. As a team, UT Martin averages 64.8 points while allowing 62.9 points per contest.
USI leads the all-time series against UT Martin, 4-3. Earlier this season, the Screaming Eagles won 52-43 at home against the Skyhawks on January 10 behind a career-best 20 points by Blacher. UT Martin won last year's matchup in Martin, Tennessee, 84-69.
Southeast Missouri (8-13, 4-8 OVC) enters the week just above the bubble line in the coveted eighth spot in the OVC standings. The Redhawks have alternated wins and losses lately, including a road split last week with a 69-55 setback at Western Illinois before a 71-56 win at Eastern Illinois.
The Redhawks have two players averaging double figures to lead the scoring charge. Graduate guard Carmen Taylor has posted 12.2 points per game, while fellow graduate guard Lexi McCully is right behind at 11.9 points per game. Overall, SEMO is registering 66.5 points offensively while surrendering 67.3 points per contest.
Southeast Missouri has the upper hand in the series history against USI with a 12-7 record. However, the Screaming Eagles have won five in a row against the Redhawks, including a 77-46 home win earlier this season. In that game, Saunders led all scorers with 27 points back on January 8.
Following this week's road set, USI Women's Basketball will return home to Liberty Arena for the final regular-season home pairing next week against Tennessee State University on Thursday and Tennessee Tech University on Saturday. It was announced earlier this week that the February 14 game against Tennessee Tech, which is also USI's Senior Day, will air nationally on ESPNU.
