NORMAL, Ill. – The University of Evansville women's basketball team dropped a defensive battle on the road at Illinois State, 70-44, in Normal, Ill. on Sunday afternoon.
"We've seen better effort over the last couple of games, but the attention to detail is key," said Aces head coach Matt Ruffing. "We were giving our team some different things out of timeouts that we thought would help different adjustments or things that maybe they weren't seeing that we as a coaching staff thought would put them in positions to be successful, but unfortunately we weren't carrying that out onto the court out of the timeout. I have to give credit to Katelyn (Hedinger). She comes in and does what we ask her to do and was aggressive and for her to get six points in the first half was a nice boost for us and hopefully gives her confidence heading into the last four games of the regular season."
Leading the Aces was junior guard Kerri Gasper with 21 points on the afternoon, adding six rebounds and two assists. Sophomore guard Katelyn Hedinger aided the effort with a career-high six points in the game. For the Redbirds, Simone Goods scored a game-high 24 points, chipping-in nine rebounds, and two steals.
The Redbirds controlled the early moments of the first quarter as Illinois State took a 7-2 lead to the first media timeout. After ISU increased its margin to seven, graduate guard Hannah Noe hit a three to trim the Aces' deficit to 9-5 with 3:47 left in the quarter. Following Noe's three, the Redbirds answered with a triple of their own and converted a second-chance opportunity into a basket to start an 8-2 run that gave Illinois State a 17-7 advantage after the opening quarter.
A quick five points for Illinois State to open the second period forced an Aces timeout with 8:49 left on the clock as the Redbirds opened up a 22-7 lead. Coming out of the timeout, Evansville mounted a 7-2 run capped-off by a deep three by Gasper that cut the Redbirds' lead to 10 at 24-14 with under five minutes remaining in the quarter. Illinois State pushed its lead to 14 with 2:49 on the clock in the second frame, but the Aces responded by way of sophomore guard Katelyn Hedinger. The Jasper, Ind. native scored six-straight Evansville points, draining a three-pointer and being fouled on a made layup and hit the following free throw to bring Evansville back within 10 at 30-20 heading into the final 1:44 of the second period. To close the quarter, the Redbirds hit a three-pointer as Illinois State grabbed a 33-20 lead going into the half.
Evansville kept pace with the Redbirds to open the third period. Gasper scored five points in the first five minutes of the quarter as Illinois State held a 45-30 advantage at the under-five media timeout. After the timeout, the Aces were out-scored 13-4 as the Redbirds took a 58-34 lead into the fourth period.
Box Score (PDF)
In the fourth quarter, Illinois State continued its run as the Redbirds' lead grew to 25 at 63-38 with under five minutes remaining. Gasper continued her strong second half as she scored the first four Aces' points of the period as UE went on a 6-2 run midway through the quarter to Illinois State's lead to 21 at 65-44 with 3:23 left in the contest. The Redbirds responded with a 5-0 run to close the game as Illinois State captured the 70-44 win.
Both teams shot evenly in the contest with Illinois State edging the Aces from the field, 38.6% (27-70) to 35.4% (17-48). In the battle of the boards, the Redbirds owned a 58-20 advantage over Evansville.
The Aces return home to Meeks Family Fieldhouse to host Loyola at 7 p.m. on Friday, February 23 and Valparaiso at 1 p.m. on Senior Day on Sunday, February 25 for Evansville's final home weekend.
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