EVANSVILLE, Ind. - In its only exhibition of the season, the University of Evansville women's basketball team earned an 81-80 win over Kentucky Wesleyan on a buzzer-beater by freshman Makayla Wallace on Sunday afternoon inside Meeks Family Fieldhouse.

"This is what we wanted. We haven't played an exhibition game in a long time and to get our team, we're young, we're super young, to get them out in this environment and bright lights, we find out a lot about ourselves," said Aces' women's basketball head coach Matt Ruffing. "Kentucky Welseyan, hats off, they should have won this game. They played unbelievable. They exploited some of the stuff that we struggle with and that we've got to continue to work on, but this younger group that we have, they just played fearless and our upperclassmen struggled a little bit with foul trouble, but I'm just happy that we kept battling and found a way."

The three points at the buzzer were three of nine points Wallace scored in the exhibition as five Purple Aces finished with nine or more points. Fellow freshman Anna Newman paced Evansville with 15 points, while senior Kerri Gasper, 14, and freshman Tayzha Buck, 12, and redshirt junior Marley Miller, 11, also finished in double-figures for Evansville.
 

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Box Score (PDF)

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A back-and-forth opening half concluded with Evansville holding a 19-16 lead, but the Panthers took a 39-34 lead to the halftime break on an 8-1 run midway through the second quarter. KWC's lead reached it's highest point of nine at 43-34 less than two minutes into the third period, but the Aces chipped away at the Panthers' advantage. With 29 seconds left in the third quarter, Gasper knocked-down a triple to cut KWC's advantage to four heading into the final quarter. Three-straight points to start the frame pushed UE within one at 56-55, but the Panthers increased their lead back to five just minutes later. Evansville answered with a 6-0 run to regain the lead at 64-62 with less than five minutes left in the game. Following the Aces' run, the lead switched hands three times before KWC used a 9-2 run to open a seven-point lead on Evansville with 1:42 remaining. The Aces were resilient in the late minutes of the game, working their way within three with under a minute to play. After a Wallace layup, Newman tied the ball up with possession arrow in Evansville's favor with just 34 seconds left in the game. Coming out of a timeout, the Aces worked the ball around to an open Buck who drained a triple to tie the game at 76. Over the next two possessions, the Aces and Panthers traded buckets before a foul sent KWC to the line with 10.7 seconds on the clock. The Panthers' Jenna Martin hit both free throws, increasing KWC's led back to two. Following a Wallace drive to the basket that saw a shot get blocked out of bounds, the Aces had one final opportunity with three seconds remaining. In-bounding underneath its own basket, Evansville found Wallace heavily defended at the top of the key. Wallace grabbed the inbound pass and crossed-over, gaining separation from her defender as the freshman rose up and swished a three as the buzzer sounded to propel the Aces to the 81-80 victory.

In the game, Evansville shot 14-42 from beyond the arc (33.3%) and forced turnovers as the Panthers committed 25 turnovers in the game with the Aces capitalizing with 27 points on KWC's 25 giveaways.

The Aces open the regular season on November 7 with a trip to take on Murray State at 6:00 p.m. in Murray, Ky..

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