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EVANSVILLE, Ind.—With under 10 minutes to go Friday night, the University of Evansville women’s basketball team trailed the Marshall Thundering Herd by 13 points, 70-57. That’s when the fans at Roberts Stadium got into the game, and the rest, as they say, is history.
Fueled by a raucous second-half crowd, the Purple Aces used a 26-0 run over a seven minute span midway through the second half to turn a 70-57 Marshall lead into an 83-70 Evansville advantage en route to an 89-77 victory in the first round of the 2007 Preseason WNIT. Evansville, 1-0 on the 2007-08 season, will now advance on to play No. 17/18 Michigan State on Sunday in the Preseason WNIT’s second round.
“Our crowd really gave us a lift in the second half,” said UE head coach Tricia Cullop. “They really were our sixth man tonight.
“I thought that our intensity on defense was better in the second half, and I also thought that we did a good job of settling down and running our offense. I was really proud of the way our team battled back. Marshall played extremely well tonight, but I thought that our team just kept on battling and the crowd helped get us over the hump in the second half.”
Sophomore forward Jillian Palan kick-started Evansville’s second-half run with a top-of-the-key three with 8:58 to play to trim UE’s deficit to 10 points, 70-60. Another three-pointer 54 seconds later by junior guard Ashley Austin continued UE’s charge, and a jumper from the elbow with 7:33 to play by Rebekah Parker trimmed the deficit to five points, 70-65, and had Roberts Stadium rocking.
Evansville then worked its way to the free throw line for five-straight free throws to tie the game at 70-70 with 5:40 to play. A rebound-put back by Shannon Novosel with 4:43 to play would give Evansville the lead for good, and Parker and Novosel would combine to score the next 11 points in the game to give UE a 13-point cushion, 83-70, with 2:27 left. Marshall would get no closer than 11 points the rest of the way.
Parker, who was limited to just six first-half points due to foul trouble, led all scorers with 22 points. She also grabbed seven rebounds and dished out four assists. Novosel, meanwhile, added a double-double with 20 points and game-high 12 rebounds. Evansville put all five starters in double-figures, as senior Courtney Felke and Austin both added 15 points, while junior forward Robyn Jennings chipped in 12.
Reserve guard Alix Barnette paced four Marshall players in double-figures with 15 points.
Sunday’s UE-Michigan State game is scheduled to tip-off at 1:00 p.m. central time. The game can be heard live on the internet at both www.gopurpleaces.com and wuev.evansville.edu.
