Today - January 9 - the Office of Safety & Security will conduct a test of the University Rave Ace Alert System.  A test message will be sent out between 8 a.m.-Noon.  It will include all aspects of the system; e-mail, text messages, Facebook, twitter, Alertus (University computers) and University televisions.  If you fail to receive an e-mail or text message notification by 1:00 p.m., please notify the Office of Safety & Security at 488-2051.

In order to better understand the religious needs of the UE community, the Offices of Diversity and Equity, Religious Life, and International Programs have scheduled a series of Religious Diversity Dialogues in January and February. All members of the campus community are invited to attend a one-hour informational discussion by selecting the session that best identifies his/her religious affiliation. For example, if your religious affiliation is Jewish, you would attend the January 29 session; if you consider yourself spiritual, but not religious, you would attend the February 19 session, and so on. Your input is important and will help us understand how best to serve the religious community at UE.

Please plan to attend the session that best identifies your own religious affiliation.

All sessions meet at 7:00 p.m. in Room 170 (Smythe Lecture Hall), Schroeder School of Business Building

Thursday, January 22           Eastern Religions (Hindu, Buddhist, Sikh, Tao, Shinto, Jain, Bahá’í, etc.)
Thursday, January 29           Judaism
Thursday, February 5           Christianity
Thursday, February 12         Islam
Thursday, February 19         Spiritual, but not Religious

For more information, please email: lw161@evansville.edu, tg85@evansville.edu, or wm23@evansville.edu.

UE Libraries will observe the following schedule of hours during the Winter Session. Contact William Louden, University Librarian, with questions.

Winter Intersession Hours

* January 5-9: 7:30 am - 5:00 pm
* January 10-11: CLOSED

Christian Thomas hit a layup with less than a second remaining to lift Loyola to a 71-70 victory over the University of Evansville basketball team on Wednesday evening at the Ford Center in Missouri Valley Conference Action.

The Aces (11-4, 1-2 MVC) led by as many as six points with just over two minutes remaining before the Ramblers (12-3, 2-1 MVC) finished the game on a 9-2 run to take the victory.

“When you shoot 57% you should win a lot of games. Defense wins championships and we need that effort and intensity on that side,” UE head coach Marty Simmons said. “If our defense does not get better, it will be tough for us.”

Leading the UE attack was D.J. Balentine, who notched 18 points and finished with a season-high of eight assists. Duane Gibson had his top game of the season, posting 16 points to go along with 3 assists and no turnovers.

Egidijus Mockevicius chipped in his 11th double-double of the season with 12 points and 10 boards while Mislav Brzoja followed up his 17-point effort at Indiana State with 12 against the Ramblers.

A 4-4 start saw the Purple Aces take off to an 8-2 start. Egidijus Mockevicius had a pair of buckets in the early run as UE shut out Loyola in the opening minutes by a 6-0 score. Loyola began the game 0-2 from the field, but quickly found its rhythm.

The Ramblers made six of their next nine attempts as a Donte Ingram layup gave them their first lead at 15-13 just over seven minutes into the game. Mislav Brzoja gave the lead back to UE with an old-fashioned 3-point play at 16-15. Thirteen lead changes ensued in the opening stanza with neither team leading by more than a possession of the final 14 minutes of the half.

With the score tied at 36-36 inside the final two minutes, Loyola reeled off the final three tallies of the half to head to the break, up 39-36.

Christian Thomas, who led Loyola with 16 points on a 7-of-9 effort from the field, gave his squad its largest lead of the night in the opening minutes of the second frame. His jumper gave LUC a 43-38 edge.

Evansville fought back to tie the game four minutes later as a Gibson jumper knotted the score at 47-47. Midway through the half, a Milton Doyle triple saw the Ramblers reestablish its 5-point edge at 58-53. The Aces were able to punch back with a rally of their own, scoring the next eight points to go up 61-58 with just over five minutes remaining.

Less than two minutes later, Mockevicius hit a layup to give the Aces their largest lead of the night at 66-60. UE found itself up 68-62 with 2:34 left, but Loyola never gave up. Following a Doyle free throw, the Ramblers got the ball back to Thomas, who nailed a triple to make it a 68-66 game.

Balentine responded with a jumper to put UE up 70-66, but Doyle found his stroke at the other end, hitting the 8th triple of the night to get Loyola within one with 42 ticks left. After a UE miss, Loyola got the ball back with 12 seconds left and Thomas struck again, hitting a layup with just 0.1 remaining. That proved to be the game winner.

For the night, the Aces shot 57.4%, hitting 27 out of 47 attempts. Loyola was solid on the offensive end, shooting 50.9% while hitting eight triples.

Next up for the Aces is a trip to Peoria, Ill. to face Bradley. Game time is set for 1 p.m. on Saturday at Carver Arena.
 

The University of Evansville women’s basketball team (6-7, 1-1) will hold their Missouri Valley Conference home opener on Thursday night when the Purple Aces play the Loyola Ramblers. The game is set for 7:00 p.m. at the Ford Center in Evansville, Ind.

UE played Wichita State close on the road in their last game on Sunday before the Shockers pulled away in the final minute for a 54-44 win. The Aces trailed 46-44 with 50 seconds left, but Wichita State ended the game on an 8-0 run to claim the win. Forward Mallory Ladd tallied a team-high 15 points and guard Sara Dickey added another 14 for the Aces.

With a win, Evansville will be 5-0 at home for the first time since 2006.

On the stat sheet, UE’s Dickey (17.5 points per game) and Ladd (15.2) are both averaging double figures. Forward Sasha Robinson is securing 8.0 rebounds per game, a team-high. Ladd also has the most assists (40) and blocks (10) of anyone on the Aces roster. Guard Taloni Reese is creating a team-best 1.7 steals per game. Evansville is averaging 64.8 points and 32.7 rebounds per game. The Aces make 41.4% of their field goals, 35.5% of threes, and 64.8% at the free throw line.

Loyola (2-11, 0-2) enters this contest on an eight-game losing streak including back to back defeats at home last weekend against Drake on Friday and against Northern Iowa on Sunday.

Statistically, Loyola has three players scoring double figure points per game including forward Taylor Manuel (15.0), guard Taylor Johnson (13.0) and forward Simone Law (12.0). Manuel also has a team-best 9.2 rebounds per game. Guard Becca Smith leads all Ramblers with 28 assists and 26 steals. Loyola is averaging 53.2 points and 38.0 rebounds per game. The Ramblers shoot 33.5% from the floor, 24.5% beyond the arc, and 61.2% at the free throw line.

Evansville is projected to finish fourth in the MVC preseason poll, their highest projection since 2008-2009. Dickey was also named to the preseason All-Conference team. The Aces are guided by fourth year head coach Oties Epps.

Loyola was voted to place seventh in the MVC preseason poll but did not have any players named to the preseason team. The Ramblers are led by second year head coach Sheryl Swoopes.

Loyola leads the all-time series 17-9 against UE but the Aces won both meetings last season.

Tickets can be purchased over the phone at 812-488-ACES (2237), in person at either the Carson Center or Ford Center ticket office, or online via Ticketmaster.com.
-www.GoPurpleAces.com-

Happy New Year Aces Fans! Welcome back for the fourth edition of The Hart Beat! I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and New Years with family and friends. It’s hard to believe it’s already January 2015!

Coming back from Christmas break is always exciting because it usually marks the start to the second part of the season, often known as conference play. Before starting Missouri Valley Conference play, we faced the #5/#7 Louisville Cardinals at the Yum Center. We competed against a top-notch program, and after the game we truly realized what our team is capable of when we play Evansville basketball. Our nonconference schedule prepared us for anything and everything we will face the remainder of the season.

We then headed on the road to Missouri State for a Friday night contest. We worked hard in practice on our defense and what we needed to do in order to be successful against them. They just posted a huge program victory by beating Missouri. After watching film, just us girls talked about their personnel and what we needed to focus on in order to beat them. We had a good start to open up the game and went into the locker-room at halftime with a lead. We controlled the majority of the game, even though we allowed MSU to creep back into the game. Free throws down the stretch sealed the win. It was a huge program victory for us!

The next day we headed to Wichita, Kansas, where we would run into colder weather and snow! Some of us weren’t too thrilled about the snow, but it wasn’t too bad. The Wichita State game was another opportunity for us to grow as a team and to see where we are in terms of clenching a championship this season. It was a tough loss for the team, because we knew we had chances during that game to win it, on their home court and in front of all their fans. After a loss like that, you just want to get on the bus and get home as soon as possible. Unfortunately, that couldn’t happen.

Due to the cold weather and snow, a part on the bus FROZE; which also caused the bus to turn off by itself at times, so our bus driver didn’t feel comfortable putting it on the road without a mechanic taking a look. While we were waiting on the bus, Coach Anya taught us a pretty funny game called Garbage. We played for a bit, which helped pass the time. Once the bus was finally fixed, we were able to get on the road. It was a very long bus ride and we made it back to Evansville at 5 a.m.

Now, it’s time to focus on our next opponent, Loyola. We are finally back in action at the Ford Center, which is always exciting! It’s a new year, and the second beginning of our season as we get into conference play. I hope to see you all there, cheering us on!

Until next time…
K. Hart from The Hart Beat

University of Evansville head women’s golf coach Jim Hamilton has announced the signing of local product Carly Waggoner to a National Letter of Intent to begin playing for the Purple Aces in the fall of 2015.

“We are excited about having a 3-sport athlete on our team as well as a tremendous student,” Hamilton said. “With her focus next year solely on golf, we expect her to contribute immediately to our program. Carly has outstanding golfing ability and I look forward to coaching her over the next four years.”

Waggoner will come to UE after spending her high school career at Rivet HS. She was a 3-sport athlete in high school, lettering in golf, basketball and track. Her current average checks in at 76.5. In 2014, she was named to the Academic All-State Team. Waggoner was also a Sectional Medalist in 2013 and ’14 and had her best performance in state competition in 2011, coming in 29th.

She was a part of the Sectional Team Championships each year from 2011-14 while earning the 2010 Indiana Girls State Junior Flight Championship. Prior to that, she earned an Aquafina Prep Tour Points Championship in 2009.

Her success was not limited to the golf course as she led her basketball team to a pair of State Runners-up in 2013 and 2014. In track, she was a 2014 Regional Qualifier in the Long Jump and 4x400 Relay.

Waggoner will graduate from Rivet in May of 2015 and has accumulated a 4.0 GPA thus far.