BOX SCORE

DES MOINES, Iowa – The University of Evansville women’s basketball team used a late rally to snap a seven-game losing streak and post a 70-59 victory over host Drake in its regular-season Saturday afternoon at the Knapp Center in Des Moines, Iowa.  With their win and Missouri State’s loss to Wichita State, the Purple Aces locked up the No. 7 seed in the upcoming Missouri Valley Conference Tournament.
 
Senior Meagan Collins scored a season-high 20 points, going 8-for-12 from the field to lead three Evansville (9-20, 7-11 MVC) in double figures.  Fellow senior Samantha Heck fought through foul trouble to finish with 19 points and eight rebounds, while senior Taylor Ware added 10 points in the victory.  Redshirt senior Chelsea Falkenstein finished one point shy of her first career double-double with nine points and a team-high 11 rebounds.
 
Drake (10-19, 5-13 MVC) led, 10-6, at the first media timeout in a contest that featured 10 ties and eight lead changes, before Heck hit a three to give the Aces their first lead at 11-10 with 14:37 to play in the first half.
 
Kyndal Clark answered with a three of her own on the next possession to put the Bulldogs back in front, but junior Miranda Liles was able to knot the score at 13-13 at the 12:54 mark in the opening stanza.
 
With 6:38 remaining in the half, freshman Laura Friday gave UE its largest lead of the opening 20 minutes at 28-20 by nailing a three from the top of the arc to force a DU timeout.
 
Drake responded with an 8-2 run over the next three minutes to cut Evansville’s lead to 30-28 after Stephanie Running sank a pair of free throws, and the Aces retained their slim lead, taking a 34-32 advantage into the locker room.
 
UE shot 48.1 percent in the first half (13-for-27) and hit four of its 13 three-point attempts, while DU connected on 45.8 percent of its field goal attempts and went 5-for-10 from long range.
 
Ashley Bartow tied the game for Drake with a pair of free throws on the first possession of the second half, but Heck drained two attempts from the charity stripe on Evansville’s first possession of the half to put the Aces back in front, 36-34, with 18:50 to play.
 
Carly Grenfell slashed through the lane for a layup to give the Bulldogs their first lead of the half, 40-39, just over four minutes into the half, but UE grabbed it right back, scoring the next three points and led 42-40 with 14:14 remaining in the game.
 
Both sides traded a pair of threes over the next few possessions and the game would be tied once again at 45-45, after Alyssa Marschner scored her only two points of the contest on a runner at the 11:03 mark.
 
Evansville slowly begin to pull away over the final seven minutes of the game, as Heck put the Aces up by two possessions, 53-49, with 6:58 left in the contest and later extended UE’s margin to 61-53 with a pair of free throws just over two minutes later.
 
With 2:56 to play, Falkenstein capped a 7-0 Evansville run to give the Aces a 63-53 lead and UE hit five of its six free throw opportunities in the final 1:18 of the game to seal the win.
 
Morgan Reid led Drake with a double-double, scoring 15 points and grabbing 15 rebounds.  Ashley Bartow and Mary Pat Specht also finished in double figures, scoring 11 points each.
 
Evansville’s defense held the Bulldogs to a 29.0 percent shooting percentage in the second half (9-for-31), including a 1-for-15 mark from long range.  The Aces shot an outstanding 52.4 percent in the second half, going 11-for-21 from the field and 4-for-8 from the three-point line.
 
Each team hauled in 32 rebounds and UE held a slim, 22-20, on points scored inside the paint.  Drake scored 14 points off of 15 Evansville turnovers, while the Aces turned 14 Drake turnovers into 12 points.
 
UE will open MVC Tournament play Thursday night at 7 p.m. at the Family Arena in St. Charles, Mo., when it takes on No. 10 seed Southern Illinois.