Box Score
BOX SCORE

ST. LOUIS – The University of Evansville women's basketball team gave itself a chance to win on the game's final possession Saturday afternoon at Chaifetz Arena in St. Louis by overcoming an 11-point halftime deficit, but a half-court heave by junior Kat Taylor missed high off the glass at the buzzer and the host Billikens hung on for a 50-49 victory.
 
Freshman Sara Dickey led a pair of Evansville (4-6) players in double figures by scoring a game-high 25 points, finishing 9-for-25 from the field and 3-for-9 from beyond the arc.  Junior Khristian Hart scored 11 points in her first game back from an ACL tear that she suffered on Jan. 31 last season at Bradley.  Hart sank four of her 12 shot attempts, including three treys.  Fellow junior Mallory Ladd hauled in a game-high 17 rebounds and finished with six points.
 
Both sides overcame long scoring droughts, as the Purple Aces went over 10 minutes without a field goal at the end of the first half and early into the second half, before UE held Saint Louis (5-6) without a made field goal for over a 13-minute span to start the second stanza.
 
With the game tied at 4-4, the Billikens opened up an early 13-4 lead by going on a 9-0 run that was capped by a Jakubicek layup at the 15:33 mark in the opening half.  Dickey ended the run with a three from the left corner and Ladd cut SLU's advantage to 18-14 with a turnaround, six-foot jumper just under three minutes later.
 
Saint Louis responded with a 5-0 scoring spurt to push its lead back to nine at 27-18 and Erin Nelson, who led the Billikens with 20 points on the afternoon, made a step-back jumper with 2:26 left in the first half to extended SLU's lead back to double digits at 29-18.
 
Saint Louis led 31-20 at the break, after holding Evansville to a 26.7 percent first-half shooting percentage (8-for-30).  The Aces made just two of their 13 first-half three-point attempts, but connected on both of their free throw opportunities.  The Billikens shot 40.6 percent from the floor in the first 20 minutes (13-for-32), including a 36.4 percent clip from long range (4-for-11).
 
UE used strong defense to slowly chip away at SLU's lead, as Evansville limited Saint Louis to just 19 second-half points and held the Billikens without a field goal for the first 11 minutes of the half.
 
Dickey ended a scoring drought for the Aces by knocking down a 12-foot jumper with 16:04 to play, before Denisha Womack made a pair of free throws to put SLU back in front, 36-26, with 11:04 left on the clock.
 
UE quickly swung momentum back to its bench by scoring a quick six points in a 35-second span, as Dickey converted a three-point play and classmate Dakota Weatherford drained a deep three from the left corner, trimming the gap to 36-32 with just over 10 minutes to play.
 
Freshman Caitlyn Russell made one of two free throws to bring UE within one possession at 36-33 at the 9:09 mark, before Desirae Ball banked in a layup for the first Saint Louis bucket of the second half on the next possession.
 
Hart tied the game at 44-44 by making back-to-back threes with 5:13 left in the game, before Dickey knotted the game again at 49-49 with a baseline jumper with 2:38 remaining.
 
Nelson made one of two free throws with 1:29 remaining to put the Billikens back up 50-49, before Dickey missed a running jumper on Evansville's next possession.
 
The Aces were able to regain possession by forcing a shot block violation with 2.3 seconds remaining in the game, but Taylor's desperation try at the horn missed high off the glass.
 
SLU finished the afternoon with a 31.0 percent shooting percentage (18-for-58), despite being limited to a 19.2 percent clip (5-for-26) in the second half.  UE sank 27.4 percent of its attempts (17-for-62) and outrebounded Saint Louis, 51-42, including 13 offensive rebounds.
 
Defensively, the Aces forced 13 Billiken turnovers and were able to turn them into 15 points, while SLU scored just five points off of 15 UE miscues, that included eight offensive fouls.
 
Evansville will be back on its home floor at the Ford Center for its next three games and will close its non-conference slate and the calendar year, when it hosts Toledo on Dec. 30 at 2 p.m.