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TERRE HAUTE, Ind.—It took about an hour longer than the University of Evansville women’s basketball team had hoped for on Thursday night, but by the end of the night, the Purple Aces found out that they have won a share of the school’s first Missouri Valley Conference regular-season championship.

 

About an hour after UE suffered a 66-61 defeat at the hands of the Indiana State Sycamores inside the Hulman Center in Terre Haute, the Purple Aces found out that Southern Illinois knocked off Illinois State, 72-69, in Normal, Illinois. With Evansville standing at 13-4 in the MVC and every other team in the league having at least five losses, the Purple Aces have clinched a share of the regular-season title. That title could be split as many as four ways though on Saturday, if UE does not pick up a victory at Illinois State.

 

Evansville will go into Saturday’s 2:05 p.m. game at Illinois State with a 19-9 overall record and 13-4 MVC mark after suffering a 66-61 loss at Indiana State on Thursday. Indiana State used a 10-0 run to close the first half to build a seven-point halftime cushion, a lead ISU would never lose.

 

Indiana State would grow as much as a 13-point lead in the second half, but UE junior forward Robyn Jennings scored 13 of her career-high 19 points after halftime to help UE rally. Jennings’ three-pointer with 5:03 to play helped Evansville trim the ISU lead back to just four points, 52-48. ISU’s Angela Phillips and Newburgh native Leah Phillips would respond though with back-to-back three-pointers to grow the ISU cushion back to 10 points, 58-48. Evansville would get no closer than three points the rest of the way.

 

Illinois State, losers of three-straight after Thursday night’s loss to Southern Illinois, will counter Evansville with a 22-6 overall record and 12-5 MVC mark. Should Evansville win on Saturday, the Purple Aces will be the outright MVC regular-season champion. Should Illinois State win, the Redbirds will claim the top seed in next week’s State Farm MVC Tournament in St. Charles, Missouri, and Evansville will have to await results from Drake’s game at Wichita State and Creighton’s game Saturday night at Missouri State to determine their seeding. Both Drake and Creighton are currently tied with Illinois State for second place in the MVC with 12-5 conference records.

Saturday's game can be heard live in the Tri-State area on the Aces' Radio Network (91.5 F.M.-WUEV, 100.5 F.M.-WSJD, 103.9 F.M.-WNTC).