Box Score EVANSVILLE, Ind. - In its first home game in over two weeks, the University of Evansville women's basketball team could not quite complete the comeback in a 62-54 setback to UIC on Wednesday evening inside Meeks Family Fieldhouse.
Senior Kerri Gasper poured-in a season-high 22 points while playing all 40 minutes in the contest as the veteran also gathered five rebounds on the evening. Continuing her shooting streak, redshirt junior Marley Miller hit three triples for the third-straight game for nine points, while freshman Makayla Wallace joined Miller with nine points, adding seven rebounds and ofur assists while going 9-12 from the charity stripe.
UIC was led by the duo of Brittany Byrd and Taylor Toney who combined for 41 of the Flames' 62 points on the evening and shot 13-28 from the field. Byrd and Toney only scored 13 combined points in the first half, but each tallied 14 points to help lead UIC to the victory in the second half.
Box Score (PDF)
Battling back from a 7-0 deficit to open the game, the Purple Aces held a 14-13 lead after the first quarter, but Evansville hit a cold stretch during the second period. As both teams struggled to find their rhythm in the second quarter, UIC took the lead from UE less than two minutes into the quarter and went on an 11-3 run to earn a 24-19 lead at the break.
Evansville trimmed its deficit to a single possession six times in the third quarter, including tying the game at 34 on a jumper by freshman Tayzha Buck, but it was the Flames who again went on a run to close the half, using an 8-2 spree to push out to a 42-36 advantage heading into the final 10 minutes. In the fourth, UIC saw its lead pushed to 10 early on, but the Aces responded, cutting the Flames' lead to just three at 53-50 with 2:29 remaining on the clock. As was the story on the night, UIC manufactured another run to secure the win, ending the game in a 9-2 run as the Flames' picked up the 62-54 win.
The Aces finish a two-game homestand on Saturday afternoon at 1 p.m. as Evansville plays host to SEMO inside Meeks Family Fieldhouse.
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