EVANSVILLE, Ind. – The Ohio Valley Conference announced on Tuesday that University of Southern Indiana Women's Basketball senior guard Ali Saunders and junior forward Chloe Gannon were recognized with All-OVC honors.
 
The league's head coaches and communication directors voted upon the OVC's postseason accolades.
 
Saunders was named to the All-OVC First Team for the 2025-26 season. Saunders paced the team this season and was second in the OVC with 17.9 points per game. The guard also topped the squad and ranked first in the conference with 4.4 assists per game. Saunders ranked top five in the OVC with a 1.4 assist-to-turnover ratio and with 2.2 steals per contest. Shooting the ball, the senior was third in the OVC in three-point percentage (37.9 percent) with 69 made threes. Saunders was top 15 in the nation and second in the OVC with an 89.5 free-throw percentage. In conference play, Saunders recorded 19.4 points per game for second in the OVC while shooting over 37 percent from beyond the arc with an OVC-best 55 triples.
 
During the conference season, Saunders tallied double figures in 18 of 20 OVC games, including 10 games with 20-plus points and two games scoring 30 or more. Saunders set a new career mark early in the OVC season with a career-high 35 points at home against Morehead State University on December 20. The guard dropped 30 again on January 29 at home against Lindenwood University. The senior ended the regular season with three straight 20-point outings. Earlier this season, Saunders set a USI record by making 41 consecutive free throws. Additionally, Saunders surpassed 1,000 overall career points and 1,000 career points while at USI, and she moved up to second on USI's all-time assists list.
 
Gannon earned All-OVC Second-Team honors. Gannon was top 15 in the OVC and second on the team with 13.3 points per game. The junior was also second on the team with seven rebounds per contest, which was good for seventh in the OVC. Gannon was also top 10 in the conference in field goal percentage, shooting over 46 percent from the floor. Gannon's team-best 1.2 blocks per game ranked second in the OVC. During league play, Gannon averaged 13.5 points (11^th in OVC) and 7.3 rebounds per game (7^th in OVC).
 
Gannon dropped 10 or more points in 17 games, including in 14 games in a row to end the regular season. The forward's top-scoring performance in OVC play came at home on January 22, scoring 21 points. Gannon posted three double-doubles in OVC play, featuring two double-doubles in the final three games. The junior had four OVC games with 10 or more boards. Also noteworthy, on the defensive side, Gannon recorded a career-best six blocked shots on January 15 at Tennessee Tech University.
 
USI Women's Basketball reached 20 wins and clinched a berth in the OVC Women's Basketball Championship Tournament for the third straight season. USI will take the court to eye its second OVC Championship Tournament title this Thursday at 3 p.m. from Ford Center in downtown Evansville, Indiana. As the third seed, the Screaming Eagles will square off against the winner of sixth-seeded University of Tennessee at Martin and seventh-seeded Southern Illinois University Edwardsville.
 
All games from the OVC Women's Basketball Championship Tournament can be seen live with a subscription to ESPN+. 95.7 FM The Spin and 97.7 FM WREF will have radio coverage of USI contests. Tickets for the OVC Tournament are on sale through the USI Ticket Office online. For more information, call the USI Ticket Office at 812-465-1189.