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EVANSVILLE, Ind. – The University of Evansville women's basketball team used a combination of efficient shooting and strong defense to extend its winning streak to five games by knocking off Missouri Valley Conference-leading Wichita State, 63-54, Thursday night at the Ford Center.
 
Evansville (12-14, 7-8 MVC) shot a season-high 52.6 percent (20-for-38) from the field and was led by freshman Sara Dickey, who finished 7-for-10 from the floor for a game-high 22 points to move into fifth on the Aces' single-season scoring list.  Fellow freshman Dakota Weatherford was a perfect 5-for-5 from the field and 2-for-2 at the free throw line for 13 points and senior Katie Ellerson came off the bench to finish with 10 points.
 
UE set the tone by scoring the first eight points of the game and forcing three turnovers in the opening  2:29 and never trailed, as Evansville's defense held Wichita State (22-5, 13-3 MVC) to a 32.3 percent shooting clip (20-for-62), including a 5-for-20 mark (25.0 percent) from beyond the arc.
 
Alie Decker hit one of her game-high four three-pointers at the 17:00 minute mark to give the Shockers their first points of the contest and trim the Aces' advantage to 8-3, but UE outscored WSU, 10-5, over the next five minutes to push its lead to double digits at 18-8, following a driving layup by Dickey.
 
Decker once again connected on a three from the left wing to cap a 7-0 Wichita State run, pulling the Shockers within three at 18-15 with 10:21 remaining in the opening half, but the Aces responded with a  10-0 run of their own.  Ellerson started the rally with a layup after a UE timeout and Dickey capped it with yet another layup at the 6:28 mark.
 
With just 34 seconds in the half, Decker drained a 15-foot jumper to cut Evansville's lead back to single digits at 33-24, but Weatherford was able to give the Aces a 35-24 halftime lead by banking home a layup just before the halftime buzzer.
 
Dickey led UE with 10 points at the break, as Evansville hit 11 of its 20 first-half field goal attempts and went 12-for-16 from the charity stripe in the opening 20 minutes.  Meanwhile, Decker led all scorers with 13 points heading into the locker room and the Aces held MVC Player of the Year candidate scoreless in the first half on a 0-for-7 shooting effort.
 
Despite a scoreless first period, Harden would prove to be a large part of Wichita State's offensive in the second half, as her first points of the game came on a layup with 18:17 to play that trimmed Evansville's lead to 40-30.
 
The Shockers continued to chip away at the Aces' lead and got within six at 42-36, when Jamillah Bonner turned a steal into a transition layup with 16:15 remaining to force the Aces to burn a timeout.
 
UE responded with a 7-0 run that began when freshman Sasha Robinson came up with a steal and hit Weatherford in stride for an easy layup.  Dickey put an exclamation point on the rally by hitting a deep three from the right wing to push Evansville's lead to 49-36 with just over 12 minutes to play.
 
With just over six minutes left in the contest, Harden sank a pair of free throws to bring WSU back within six, 57-51, but the Aces were able to limit Wichita State to just three points the rest of the night and held on for a 63-54 victory, despite going without a field goal for the final 7:46 of the contest.
 
Wichita State outrebounded Evansville, 35-31, and grabbed 17 on the offensive glass, but the Aces outscored the Shockers, 28-24, in the paint and scored 16 points to WSU's 10 in transition.
 
Decker finished with 16 points to lead four Wichita State players in double figures, as Bonner, Harden and Michelle Price all finished the evening with 10 each.
 
Evansville will put its five-game winning streak on the line Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m., when it hosts Missouri State for Senior Day, in what will be the Aces final home game of the 2013-14 campaign.