Box Score

Hosting their first home conference game of the season, the University of Evansville women’s basketball team fell, 81-55, to Creighton Thursday night at Roberts Stadium. The Aces are now 6-8 on the season and 1-2 in Valley play, while the Bluejays improved to 8-5 overall and 2-0 in the MVC.

 

Sophomore Meagan Collins led the Evansville effort with 11 points, six rebounds, and three assists. Junior Staci Gillum added nine points, including a four-for-four performance from the free throw line, while all 11 Aces tallied at least one basket in the loss.

 

A back-and-forth battle to start the game, quickly turned one-sided as Creighton sparked an 8-0 run and gradually increased their lead throughout the first half. At the 14:05 mark, Collins’ layup evened the score at 9-9, but just a minute and 44 seconds later the Bluejays were up 17-9.

 

Junior Briyana Blair’s free throws at the 12:18 mark put the Aces within five, but that was as close as they would get. Creighton led by as much as 15 with 4:14 to go, and took a 37-24 lead into the break.

 

Senior Kelsey Woodard led the Bluejays’ attack in the first half with 13 points, knocking down three-of-four shots from behind the arc. Evansville came up short in the battle of the boards, as Creighton out-rebounded the Aces, 21-13, in the opening stanza, and tallied eight points, compared to UE’s two, on second-chance shots.

 

The Aces shot 37.5 percent (9-for-24) from the field and just 16.7 percent (1-for-6) from three-point range in the first half. CU shot 45.2 percent (14-for-31) from the field and 50 percent from behind the arc (5-for-10).

 

The Blujays stretched their lead to as much as 24 (65-41) with 7:48 to go, and held control throughout the remainder of the game, answering nearly every basket the Aces tallied.

 

Evansville shot 46.2 percent (20-for-47) from the field, 27.3 percent (3-for-11) from three and 66.7 percent from the line (12-for-18). The Bluejays hit 33-of-58 (56.9%) from the floor, 9-of-17 from behind the arc (52.9%) and 6-of-7 (85.7%) from the charity stripe.

 

Woodard piloted CU with 17 points and seven assists, while Sam Schuett and Carli Tritz added 10 points each.

 

The Aces are back in action Sunday, hosting Drake University at 1:00pm CST at Roberts Stadium. The Evansville men play immediately following against the Bluejays at 3:30pm.