CHICAGO, Ill. – An early three-point barrage proved too much for Loyola to overcome on Thursday evening as the University of Evansville women's basketball team picked up a fourth consecutive victory with an 81-50 decision at Gentile Arena.
Led by Brooke Dossett and Sara Dickey, six different players buried at least one three-pointer on the night as the Aces (12-16, 7-10 Missouri Valley Conference) out-scored the Ramblers (2-26, 1-16 MVC) by 24 points from beyond the arc.
"I was really proud of our group," UE head coach Matt Ruffing said. "We challenged them to get out to a good start that would set the tone for the whole game, and we were able to do that. When we can make our first couple buckets and get out to a good start, we're just a different team. You can see the look in their eyes when they get confidence like that early on."
Dossett led all scorers with 14 points on 6-of-9 shooting and six assists. Dickey added 13 while both Kerri Gasper and Camary Williams put up 11. In all, 11 different players scored as the Aces racked up a 26-2 advantage in bench points.
"Brooke was able to get into the lane, and they had to collapse onto her, which left our shooters open," Ruffing explained. "That puts the defense in a bind, and Brooke made some really nice reads to either pass the ball off or take the shot. We had four players score in double figures and scored over 70. Any time that you can do that, it's a recipe for success."
Williams also finished with eight rebounds, and Sasha Robinson led the team in boards, pulling down nine to go along with six points. UE doubled-up Loyola in rebounds, grabbing 48 to the Ramblers' 24.
After playing close over the opening three minutes, Dossett scored eight points over the course of a four-minute surge to give UE a 16-7 lead. The Ramblers scored just four more points over the remainder of the quarter as the Aces took a 19-11 advantage into the second period.
Dickey stretched the lead with a triple just 12 seconds into the second frame, and she'd star in a late first half run that saw her score 10 points over the course of a 20-2 spurt to put UE up 46-17 at the break.
UE would out-score the hosts 15-5 in the third to stretch the lead out to 61-22.
Loyola put up 28 points in the final quarter. Both Tiara Wallace and Brandi Segars scored 13 to lead the Ramblers, and Kaitlyn Williams added another 10.
The win was the third in wire-to-wire fashion over the past four games.
Heading into the final regular season game of the season, UE can claim the sixth seed and a first round bye at next week's MVC tournament with a victory over Indiana State on Saturday, a loss would open the door to a potential seventh-place finish.
Tipoff on Saturday is slated for 1 p.m. Central time.
NOTES: UE all-time leading scorer Sara Dickey's 13 points on Thursday took her career total up to 2,054, drawing her level with former Northern Iowa star Jacqui Kalin (2007-13) for the seventh-best career total in league history … Dickey also closed the gap to just 17 points on Notre Dame's Ruth Riley (1997-01) for the 11
th-best total in Indiana Division I history … Dickey's three triples took her career total up to 259, surpassing Missouri State's Melody Howard (1991-94) for the 10
th-best mark in Valley history … With nine rebounds against the Ramblers, Sasha Robinson now has 816 for her career, which is the third-best mark in school history. She is 17 away from tying Shyla McKibbon-Puelston (1997-02) for second in UE history … Camary Williams added three more steals to her school-record single-season steals total. She's now swiped 112, which is tied with Kasia McClendon (1994-95) for the fourth-best mark in MVC history. Five more would move her into the top three … UE is now 12-20 all-time against Loyola, which includes a 3-12 mark in Chicago … The Aces are 96-106 against Illinois schools and 28-31 versus Chicago opponents.
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