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The University of Evansville women’s basketball team was able to hold off league-leading Illinois State in the first half, but the Purple Aces could not stop a 17-2 run midway through the second half which powered the Redbirds to a 67-50 victory at Roberts Stadium in Evansville.
The Aces scored the first six points of the game on a pair of three-point field goals in the opening minutes which set the tone for the first half. Evansville would hit five of its first eight three-pointers in the first half while neither team held more than a six-point lead in a back-and-forth half of play. After seven ties and three lead changes, Illinois State was eventually able to take a 33-31 lead into the halftime locker room.
Illinois State then set the tone for the second half by scoring 10 of the first 15 points to build a 43-36 lead. After Evansville sophomore Eva Benson answered back with a layup with 13:18 of play to trim the ISU lead back to five points, 43-38, the Redbirds exploded for a 17-2 run over a five minute span which put the game out of reach. Illinois State would hold at least a 15-point lead the rest of the way.
“It was a tale of two halves tonight,” said UE head coach Misty Murphy.
“I felt like we played one of our better halves of basketball in the first half and had great intensity. The second half was a different story though. We didn’t play with the same type of intensity on either end of the court and Illinois State was eventually able to pull away with that big run midway through the half.”
Nicolle Lewis scored 14 points to lead Illinois State, including scoring 12 of her 14 points in the second half as the Redbirds shot 50 percent after halftime to pull away. Reserve guard Shala Jackson added 12 points for the Redbirds while sophomore Katie Broadway chipped in 10 points in the win.
Benson led Evansville with a career-high 14 points on 6-of-7 shooting from the floor while freshman Kaylan Martin and Meagan Collins each scored 10 points apiece for UE.
With the victory Illinois State extends its winning streak to 12 games in a row while improving to 19-5 overall and 12-1 in the MVC. Evansville meanwhile falls to 4-21 overall and 1-13 in the Valley. Evansville will return to Roberts Stadium on Saturday afternoon at 2:00 p.m. when the Purple Aces host Indiana State in the 2010 Women’s Hoops For The Cure. Tickets for Saturday’s game are $3 with half of the proceeds going to benefit Susan G. Komen For The Cure.
