Credit to: gopurpleaces.com
EVANSVILLE, Ind. — The University of Evansville women’s basketball team begins its quest in the postseason on Thursday night.
| No. 10 Evansville vs. No. 7 UIC | Thursday, March 13 | 6 PM CT | |
| Site | Locations | Ford Center | Evansville, Ind. |
| Game Coverage | Live Stats | ESPN+ |
| Follow the Aces | Women’s Basketball Home Page | Twitter |
After ending the regular season with three straight games at home, the Purple Aces won’t be traveling far to begin the postseason. UE makes its way downtown to the Ford Center for the 2025 Credit Union 1 Missouri Valley Conference Women’s Basketball Tournament. While the tournament is in town, since the Ford Center is not Evansville’s home court it is a neutral site game. But the Aces are one of only two MVC teams to have played in the Ford Center during the regular season as UE opened conference play with fourth seeded Drake in the arena back in December.
UE enters the 2025 Credit Union 1 Missouri Valley Conference Women’s Basketball Tournament as the 10th seed after finishing the season with a 3-17 conference record. Evansville has been the 10th seed in the MVC Tournament six times and got a dramatic win as the 10th seed during the 2016 MVC Championship. The Aces were able to overcome the Illinois State Redbirds in overtime with a 61-59 victory. UE’s victory in 2016 is one of only 18 MVC Tournament games to be decided by one possession.
Evansville will face the UIC Flames in the first round of the tournament as the Flames hold the seventh seed. The two teams have never played one another in the MVC Tournament since UIC joined the league in the 2022-23 season. The Flames did take both of the regular season meetings and have evened the overall series between the two at 10 wins each. The Aces hope the adage it’s hard to beat a team three times in one season holds true on Thursday night to retake the series lead with UIC. The Flames ended the regular season against Drake (21-10, 15-5 MVC) on Saturday, falling short in front of a home crowd 69-49 as graduate forward Keimari Rimmer scored 13 points and grabbed a team-leading eight rebounds.
Freshman Camryn Runner (Cicero, Ind. / Hamilton Heights HS) was named the MVC Freshman of the Year in a vote of league coaches, sports information directors, and media members on Wednesday. She is the fourth Purple Ace to receive the award and the first in five seasons. Runner had UE’s best offensive season from a freshman since Sara Dickey with 473 points on the season. She has scored in double digits in all but two games this season for Evansville to average 15.3 points a game. Runner also had one of the best freshman seasons for the Aces helping with the ball, recording 87 assists, a number not hit since the 2013-14 season.
Sophomore forward Maggie Hartwig (Sauk City, Wis. / Sauk Prairie HS) ended the regular season hitting a major milestone in 33 minutes of play against Belmont. Hartwig became the first underclassman to hit 500 career rebounds since program leading rebounder Christy Greis did so in the 1990-91 season. With 276 rebounds at the conclusion of the regular season Hartwig is having the program’s sixth best season under the glass. She would need 13 rebounds in the postseason to move into the top five, passing forward Shayla McKibbon-Puelston’s 288 rebound season in 1998-99.
