The women’s basketball team went on the road to the state of Kentucky last week to play a two-game series against two of Kentucky’s premier basketball programs: the nationally ranked University of Louisville and Murray State University. 

The first of these matchups was against Lousiville Nov. 8. This matchup was extremely tough, considering that Louisville plays in the Athletics Coast Conference, an excellent basketball conference in both men’s and women’s Division I play. Playing any ACC team would be a challenge, but playing Louisville is a massive step up.

In that matchup, the score was close after the first quarter, with the Cardinals leading just 22-21. 

However, the second quarter went wrong for The Screaming Eagles in every way. They scored four points and fell behind by 43-25 — a challenging hole, but still possible. Unfortunately, The Screaming Eagles’ offense struggled to gain a foothold for most of the second half, which saw them ultimately lose by a score of 75-51. A tough but necessary defeat. This game should fuel their determination to avoid repeating this performance and win by any means necessary, no matter the opponent. 

USI traveled to Murray, Kentucky, for an afternoon matchup against Murray State University Tuesday. The Screaming Eagles looked more like themselves. Led by the scoring of Triniti Ralston, sophomore guard (17 for the game), and Vanessa Shafford, senior guard (14 for the game), they outscored Murray State in the first three-quarters of regulation. 

The Screaming Eagles’ defense was impeccable, much like the home opener against the University of Brescia. The team had an absurd 17 steals for the game, led by Ali Saunders, junior guard, with five; Amiyah Buchannan, sophomore forward, with four; and Vanessa Shafford, senior guard, with three.

Rick Stein, women’s basketball head coach, was impressed with the team’s aggressiveness and overall quality of play on the defensive side. He brought up an underutilized stat: deflections.

“Deflections is something we used to keep track of pretty closely,” he said. 

This is something the team has lost track of in recent years. However, Stein was ecstatic about the team’s deflections. 

“It seemed like we had our hand on the ball all the time,” Stein said. “We were very active on defense, no matter what defense we were in.”

However, the team let up 31 points in the fourth quarter through a Murray State three-point bonanza, which is undoubtedly a concern because Stein didn’t empty the bench by any means. The team managed to limit Murray State to a mere seven points in the previous quarter, so perhaps it could have been fatigue or Murray State making late-game adjustments to go for a comeback. Regardless, it is something they will likely address in film and practice. 

Stein believes the women’s basketball team’s road trip was among the best in USI’s recent history, describing it as a “great experience” and “great opportunity” for us.

“I thought we did so many good things in that game, from start to finish,” he said. 

Stein also credited Louisville’s performance. He said the Screaming Eagles “just got a little flippy with the ball,” and Louisville made them “pay in transition of that.” 

However, Stein believes this game impacted their performance against Murray State, a team that has had USI’s number in the past. Louisville and Murray State play a similar brand of basketball, and USI used some of the lessons learned from the Louisville defeat to defeat a tough Murray State team. They also used this matchup to build confidence playing in big arenas. 

The KFC Yum! Center in Louisville, Kentucky, home of the Louisville Cardinals, has a capacity of just over 22,000. The matchup between USI and Louisville featured a crowd of just over 7,000 — more than the entire capacity of USI’s Liberty Arena.

Stein described it as a “big-time atmosphere.” 

Shafford recognized the beauty of living in the moment. 

“They had a really good crowd out there,” she said. “Just to see the Yum Center filled up, it was a really cool thing.” 

Lexie Green, graduate guard, was impressed by the sheer mass of fans at the game. 

“I don’t think we’ve ever, ever played in front of that many fans,” Green said. “It’s really cool to see that many people show up for a women’s basketball game.” 

The team found time for bonding on the road trip, whether it be going out to dinner, spending time at hotels or even something as trivial as playing Fortnite with teammate Chloe Gannon, sophomore forward/center.

“Chloe and I have this pre-game ritual where we have to play at least a couple games of Fortnite before a game,” said Sophia Loden, sophomore guard/forward. 

This memory, along with many others, will be something the women’s basketball team will hold on to forever.