Box Score
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EVANSVILLE, Ind. – The University of Evansville women's basketball team led for all but 5.2 seconds of the final 26 minutes of the game Saturday afternoon at the Ford Center against Bradley, but the visiting Braves came away with a 77-76 victory, after a pair of free throws by Fantasia Vine in the final seconds of the contest.
 
Junior Mallory Ladd led Evansville (6-7, 1-1 MVC) with her second-straight double-double by scoring 13 points and grabbing 11 rebounds.  Freshman Sara Dickey paced the Aces with a team-high 18 points, including 15 in the second half, by going 6-for-14 from the field and 5-for-7 at the free throw line.  Juniors Khristian Hart and Kat Taylor also finished in double figures, scoring 16 and 12 points, respectively.  Freshman Dakota Weatherford filled the box score in her 30 minutes off the bench by scoring nine points and dishing out a game-high seven assists.
 
It was a back-and-forth matchup in the first half, as the two highest-scoring teams in the Missouri Valley Conference found points to be at a premium over the first 20 minutes.  UE scored the first three points of the afternoon, before Bradley (4-9, 1-1 MVC) went on a 9-3 run to grab a 9-6 lead on a Kelly Frings jumper at the 13:05 mark.
 
Ladd later tied the game at 12-12 on a three-pointer with 10:19 remaining in the half, before Weatherford sank a jumper on Evansville's next possession to put the Aces up two.
 
The Braves grabbed their largest lead of the game at 18-14, following a jumper by Taylor Shull at the 8:44, before UE countered with an 11-2 run over the next four minutes that was capped by a Ladd layup to put Evansville up, 25-20.
 
BU's Michelle Young tied the game for the fifth time by connecting on a jumper with 3:07 remaining in the half, but the Aces would take a 31-28 advantage into the locker room.
 
Both teams struggled to find the bottom of the net in the opening half, as UE shot just 37.0 percent from the field (10-for-27) and Bradley managed just a 30.0 percent clip (9-for-30).
 
Evansville opened the second half with an 8-2 run to grab a 39-30 lead, after Ladd converted on an and-one opportunity, but the Braves responded with a scoring run of their own and trimmed the advantage to 40-39 with 16:14 remaining in the game.
 
The Aces began to apply pressure on defense and answered with yet another run, building their largest lead of the game, after Hart made a transition layup to put UE in front, 52-41, with 13:28 on the clock.
 
Evansville and Bradley traded baskets for much of the next 10 minutes, before the Braves began to mount their comeback.  Frings brought BU back within four at 74-70, with 3:49 left to play by converting on an old fashioned three-point play, before Dickey put the Aces back up by two possessions with a pair of free throws on the next possession, which would prove to be the final two points for UE.
 
Catie O'Leary, who scored 15 of her game-high 24 points in the second half, cut the gap to three with a layup at the 1:15 mark, before Vine made the score 76-75 with a layup two possessions later. 
 
After Bradley was forced to foul to extend the game, Taylor missed the front end of a one-and-one and BU took advantage as Vine was fouled with 5.2 seconds remaining and sank both tries to give Bradley its only lead of the second half. 
 
Evansville called a timeout and drew up a play for the final play of the contest, but the Aces failed to get a shot off and the Braves came away with the win.
 
UE shot 42.6 percent for the game (26-for-61) and made 15 of its 21 attempts at the charity stripe, but BU posted a 51.6 second-half shooting percentage (16-for-31) and outrebounded Evansville, 44-33, converting 14 offensive rebounds into 19 second-chance points.
 
O'Leary added 15 rebounds to her 24 points to finish with a double-double for the Braves, leading five Bradley players in double figures.  Vine finished with 15 points and seven boards, while Frings added 12 points and eight rebounds.
 
The Aces will look to rebound, when they head to Iowa for their next two games, as UE will play at Northern Iowa on at 7 p.m. on Jan. 10, before completed the road trip with a 2:05 p.m. tilt at Drake on Jan. 12.