By Kim Doss, Her Hoop Stats
 
In her first year as the head coach at Evansville, Robyn Scherr-Wells knows her team could have improved their record just a bit from the 8-22 mark they ended with in 2021-22, but she was happy with other changes to the program.
 
“It was a really good year just from building our style of play, building culture,” Scherr-Wells said. “Would have loved to have won more games last year, but it was a good step towards being really competitive. We were competitive in most of our games. We definitely left a few on the table last year, which was disappointing, but I think that also it's pushing our girls. They know that they left a few on the table. So I think they're pretty motivated by that.”
 
There were positive signs on the court. The team improved its offensive rating (points per 100 possessions) to 85.9. That was an increase of 11.6 points per 100 possessions over the 2020-21 season. It was the best mark for the Purple Aces since the 2016-17 season when they had an offensive rating of 86.9. Perhaps not coincidentally, 2016-17 was the last time the team had double-digit wins.
 
That increase in offensive rating improved their net rating to -14.7, a dramatic change from the -25.9 net rating they had the season before. They did that while increasing their pace to the fastest it had been since 2013-14. In 2021-22, there were 74.3 possessions for each team per 40 minutes in Evansville’s games.
 
“We did pretty much a 180 on everything,” Scherr-Wills said. “Prior to us getting here, they were a bit of a slower team. Played kind of a five-out motion. Played zone on defense. We implemented a transition style of play. A high amount of possessions per game, really trying to take advantage in transition, in secondary transition, and pushing tempo. And then we press the whole game and played all man-to-man defense. So, it was a very drastic change, but they really brought in, really embraced it, and I thought we made really good progress for how much we had to change in year one.”
 
The Aces will build on that with the help of four players who started at least 20 games last season, including two of their top three scorers.
 
Chief among those returners is Abby Feit. The senior was the Missouri Valley Conference Freshman of the Year in her first season at Evansville. She has just improved on that each season, landing on the All-MVC First Team last season.
 
Last year, Feit led the Aces in points, rebounds and blocked shots. She averaged nearly a double-double with 15.1 points and 8.9 rebounds per game. She also anchored the defense with 1.3 blocks and 1.8 steals per contest.
 
“I still think she can get better,” Scherr-Wells said. “I still think [she] hasn't hit her ceiling as a player. I think that again for her also in year two of our style of play, I think she's really starting to learn where she can score the ball, where she can get open, how she can have an impact in that way. And I do feel like our more experience around her that we've added – another post player and transfer – I think is going to be a good combination with her. I think our guards are a lot more experienced with knowing where to get her the ball. Hopefully, I think our other kids will score better too, and I hope that loosens up Abby a little bit because, man, she had a fight for everything she got last year.”
 
The post player who Scherr-Wells is hoping to pair with Feit is Barbora Tomancova, a 6-foot-3 center from the Czech Republic. The redshirt junior transfer comes to Evansville by way of Florida International.
 
“[She] has unfortunately battled with some injuries in her career but she's getting healthy,” Scherr-Wells said. “She's good. She's just an experienced international post player. She's a top kid that can play inside and out. I think she really fills some needs that we have just from a rebounding standpoint of a big presence inside, but she can step out and shoot the three as well. So I think her and Abby Feit in the post together are going to be a great frontcourt punch for us.”
 
The second of three players who averaged double-digits last season was Myia Clark. The fifth-year player returns after putting up 12.2 points per game last season.
 
“She had a great summer,” Scherr-Wells said. “She looks awesome. She's just a super athletic kid that can really get to the rim and really get to the free-throw line and this is a big time difference maker for us on both ends.”
 
The team will be run by Evansville, Ind., native Anna Newman. The point guard is returning for her fifth season at her hometown school. She averaged 6.9 points while hitting 44.8 percent of her three-point shots and 78.8 percent of her free throws last season.
 
Newman’s facilitation was even more important to her team. She dished out 3.5 assists per game. Despite the increased pace of play, she also cut down on her turnovers. After committing 3.3 per game in 2020-21, she had just 2.7 per game in 2021-22.
 
“I think our style of play really suited her,” Scherr-Wells said. “I think her first three years it was just a grind. It was really tough for her. She faced a lot of pressure. It's hard to get the ball out of her hands and we really worked on getting the ball out of her hands early in transition, because she's a great creator, and getting the ball back to her after the defense has shifted and moved. And she was able to get to the rim really well and get to the free-throw line. And so she really just provides that great spark as a great leader. She was really a great extension of me on the floor.”
 
Transfer point guard Lexie Sinclair, who spent her first year at St. Bonaventure, will take some of the pressure off Newman.
 
“We were not very deep at the point guard spot last year, and I think it's really going to help Anna not to have to play quite so heavy minutes,” Scherr-Wells said. “Anna had to take on an enormous load from a minute standpoint for us last year, and that just really wears on kids over the course of the season.”
 
Scherr-Wells feels more prepared this year, too. There were things about the MVC that she expected. Chief among those was the depth and the grind of the conference. She did run into a few surprises, though.
 
“Having coached in other mid-major conferences like the A10 and Conference USA, I think what I probably didn't expect as much was just how strong the post was, especially at the five position last year in our conference,” Scherr-Wells said. “It was just a very good post conference last year. We were a little bit banged up and lacked a little depth in the post last year, and it showed in games. In other conferences where you were really guard dominant, and maybe had a little hole in the post, you could kind of cover it up in some of those other conferences I've been in, and it was tough to cover it up in the Missouri Valley.”
 
Evansville will start the season against Eastern Kentucky on Nov. 7.