TERRE HAUTE, Ind. – After falling behind for the first time in three games in the first quarter, the University of Evansville responded to out-score Indiana State in each of the next three to pick up a 52-44 victory in the regular season finale at the Hulman Center.
"We knew it was going to be a tough one coming into this one," UE head coach Matt Ruffing said. "In order to win in this building, you have to be the tougher team. You have to be the harder working team, and you have to take care of the basketball. Today, we were able to weather that storm in the first quarter, and then we found enough offense in the second half to win."
The win was the fifth in a row for the Aces, who have improved to 13-16 on the year with an 8-10 mark in Missouri Valley Conference. UE will enter next week's conference tournament with the No. 6 overall seed and first round bye. The Aces will begin tournament play next Friday against third-seeded Missouri State.
Indiana State, meanwhile, dropped to 12-17 overall and 6-12 in the league.
The Sycamores' defensive efforts stifled the Aces in the early goings as ISU picked up nine of the game's first 11 points to take a 13-8 lead into the second quarter. The hosts would continue to maintain that lead until a Sasha Robinson jumper four minutes into the second frame kicked off an Aces surge to end the first half. Sara Dickey scored five of the next seven points, to close the deficit to three, and an Ashley Hawkins layup and a pair of Camary Williams free throws put the Aces ahead with just over three minutes left in the period.
Dickey would add two more free throws before Williams and Tierra Webb traded threes to send the game into the half with the Aces up 27-24.
Dickey, who had dozens of family and friends in attendance from her nearby hometown of Montezuma, led all scorers with 17 points. Robinson added 13 and 11 rebounds, and Williams finished with eight points, six boards and three steals.
UE pushed ahead by seven in the third quarter before a Webb jumper and four Rhagen Smith free throws whittled it back down to a single point. However, Dickey ended the period with a corner three to restore a four-point advantage. Brooke Dossett followed up with a pair of jumpers to start the fourth, and the Aces would never look back.
Webb led ISU with 13 points, and Wendi Bibbins finished with 12 points as UE held the Sycamores to 27.3% shooting from the field.
The Missouri Valley Conference Championship will begin next week at the iWireless Center in Moline, Ill.
NOTES: UE all-time leading scorer Sara Dickey has now racked up 2,071 career points. She is just one away from tying former Notre Dame star Ruth Riley (1997-01) for the 11
th-best mark in Indiana Division I history. Dickey also closed the gap on Missouri State's Kari Koch (2003-06) to two points for the sixh-best scoring mark in league history … Dickey's three triples took her career total up to 263, which is tied with Indiana State's Kelsey Luna (2006-10) for the sixth-best mark in league history … With 11 rebounds against the Sycamores, Sasha Robinson now has 827 for her career, which is the third-best mark in school history. She is six 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 115, which is the fourth-best mark in MVC history. Two more would move her into the top three … UE is now 17-37 all-time against Indiana State, which includes a 7-21 mark in Terre Haute.
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