BOX SCORE

EVANSVILLE, Ind. – Senior Samantha Heck recorded her eighth-career double-double by scoring 23 points and pulling down 13 rebounds, but it was not enough as visiting UT Martin topped the University of Evansville women’s basketball team, 73-57, Wednesday night at the Ford Center.
 
Heck scored 13 of her 23 points in the second half and was one of two Purple Aces in double figures, as redshirt sophomore Khristian Hart finished the night with 14 points.  Heck knocked down eight of her 10 shot attempts and converted on all six of her opportunities at the foul line, while Hart was 5-of-17 from the floor and knocked down two of her 10 shots from three-point land.
 
Heather Butler led the UTM with 23 points, going 8-for-20 from the field and 4-for-8 from behind the arc.  Jasmine Newsome finished with 18 points for the Skyhawks and Rickiesha Bryant tallied 13 points off the bench.
 
Evansville (2-4) jumped out to an early lead, as Heck scored four of the Aces’ first 10 points and UE led 10-8 at the first media timeout.
 
UT Martin (2-5) responded with a 17-4 scoring run, as a layup by Contrice Golden put the Skyhawks in front, 25-14, and forced an Evansville timeout with 8:28 left to play in the opening half.
 
UTM upped the margin to as many as 14 in the opening stanza, as it led 36-22 at the 3:47 mark.  The Aces trimmed the lead to 10 at 38-28, but Butler nailed a three-pointer with just seconds remaining before the halftime horn for three of her 19 first-half points and gave the Skykhawks a 41-28 lead heading into the locker room.
 
UT Martin scored the first eight points out of the break, pushing its lead to 21 at 49-28 on three-point play by Newsome with 17:21 left in the contest.
 
Evansville’s first basket of the second half came with 13:00 remaining on a turnaround jumper by senior Chelsea Falkenstein, as the Skyhawks held the Aces without a field goal for 7:18 to build a 56-31 lead.
 
UTM’s largest lead came with 13:10 remaining in the game, when Newsome sank a pair of free throws to extend the margin to 56-29.  Evansville battled back by going on a 17-7 run, capped by a Heck layup, over the next 5:35 to trim the Skyhawks’ advantage to 63-48 with 7:25 left to play.
 
UT Martin held off the late rally by scoring the next seven points to seal the 73-57 victory.
 
The Aces went cold from the field in the second half, as the Skyhawk defense held UE to just a 26.9 percent clip from the field.  In addition, Evansville shot just 14.3 percent from long range, hitting just four of its 28 three-point attempts, including going 1-for-10 in the first half.
 
UE outrebounded UT Martin, 41-35, but the Skyhawks dominated the turnover battle, scoring 29 points off of 21 Evansville miscues, while committing just 11 of their own.
 
The Aces will return to the hardwood with a pair of upcoming road games against nationally-ranked Ohio State and Eastern Illinois.  UE will travel to Columbus, Ohio for a 11 a.m. game with the Buckeyes on Saturday, Dec. 1, before wrapping up the road trip with a 7 p.m. tilt on Tuesday, Dec. 4 against the Panthers in Charleston, Ill.