MOLINE, Ill. — University of Evansville head coach Matt Ruffing had an ace up his sleeve entering Friday evening's showdown with Missouri State, and he played it at just the right time as his Purple Aces women's basketball team pulled off the upset in a 65-59 victory over the Lady Bears in the quarterfinal round of the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament at the iWireless Center.
The sixth-seeded Aces (14-16) had lost both regular season meetings with the third-seeded Lady Bears (16-14) by an average of 30 points, and over the past two weeks, he and his team had been working on developing a zone defense that the team had not played all season. The efforts certainly paid off as MSU was held to just 29.7% shooting from the field, helping UE came back from 12 points down to defeat the defending conference tournament champions.
"We watched a lot of film after the way we lost those first two games, and we'd been working on this zone and saving it for the tournament," Ruffing revealed. "We knew this week was going to be a great time to use it. I have to give a lot of credit to our girls for trusting it, and it really disrupted Missouri State's offense and put us over the top in today's game."
With the win, the Aces have now won six in a row and will advance to the MVC semis for the second time in the last three years. UE will square off against Northern Iowa on Saturday for a spot in the championship game. Tipoff is slated for 4 p.m.
The game was not without its adversity for the Aces, as UE went into the half trailing by 10 points while being out-rebounded by a 31-13 margin. However, the third quarter would turn the game on its head, with the Aces outscoring MSU 21-7 to take a 41-37 lead into the final period.
Sara Dickey, who had been held to just seven points in the previous 10 quarters of action against MSU, returned to her all-conference form in the penultimate frame, scoring eight of her 12 points in the quarter. She would hit two of UE's first four shots to help the Aces cut the deficit to two at the midway point.
A Camary Williams triple put UE ahead just moments later, and threes from Dickey and Kerri Gasper down the stretch made it a two-possession game after 30 minutes.
Gasper, who scored a career-best 22 points at MSU last season, showed out once again Friday with a team-leading 19 points on 6-of-12 shooting.
The Lady Bears would mount an emphatic response in the fourth, reeling off eight consecutive points to start the frame before Gasper and Williams answered with a 5-0 run to bring about another lead change.
Liza Fruendt scored four of her game-best 26 points over a 6-0 surge to stretch the lead out to five for MSU before four free throws and a Brooke Dossett jumper made it 53-51 in favor of the Aces with just under three minutes left.
The lead would change twice more as Fruendt and Gasper traded threes, and UE would do what it needed to do at the free throw line in the final minute, sinking 6-of-8 to ice the game. Dossett went a perfect 4-for-4 in the final 12 seconds as she ended with 14 points in the contest.
—#AcesAces —
