EVANSVILLE, Ind. - Despite holding a 31-30 lead at the half, the University of Evansville women's basketball team dropped a road contest at Bradley, 92-47, as the Braves used a third-quarter run to grab the win in Peoria, Ill. on Friday night.

"We told the team that we can't have excuses. We played really well in that first half and we told them that the tougher team was going to win," said Aces head coach Matt Ruffing. "You could see it defensively. Our offense wasn't flowing that great, but we were making shots and finding ways to put the ball in the basket. The first half was great, but unfortunately you think about what happened at the end."

Junior guard Kerri Gasper continued her strong February with a team-high 17 points, adding five rebounds, and a pair of assists and steals. Chipping in nine points was redshirt sophomore Marley Miller, who also tallied five rebounds, three assists, and a steal. The Braves were led by Vanessa Markert with a game-high 21 points along with four rebounds and four blocks, while Anneke Schlueter joined Markert in double figures with 19 points and five boards.

To open the contest, Evansville fell behind early on as Bradley built a 7-2 lead in the first three minutes of the contest. The Aces trailed by five on three separate occasions, but battled back by hitting shots from beyond the arc. Down 16-12 with 1:28 left in the first quarter, Evansville received a pair of three-pointers from Miller and freshman guard Kayla Casteel that gave UE an 18-16 advantage after the opening period.

The Aces lead hit four in the early moments of the second quarter as sophomore guard Macie Lively drained a jumper to push Evansville ahead 20-16. Answering Lively's bucket, the Braves responded with a 6-0 run to give Bradley a 22-20 advantage with 5:34 left until the halftime break. As the lead switched hands five times over the final five minutes, Gasper toed the line with three seconds left in the period and hit two free throws to give Evansville a 31-30 halftime lead.
 

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Box Score (PDF)

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Coming out of the half, Bradley quickly found its rhythm. After Gasper completed a layup to push UE's lead to three at 33-30 to open the third quarter, Bradley manufactured an 11-5 run to push in front 51-38 with 4:28 left in the frame. Gasper slowed the run with a triple that trimmed the Braves' lead back to 10 at 51-41, but Bradley answered with a 21-4 spree to close the quarter and take a 72-45 advantage into the fourth period.

In the fourth quarter, Bradley saw its run continue with 15-straight Braves' points to open the period. Bradley held Evansville scoreless in the final quarter for 8:54 before Lively went to the line and made two free throws to stop the Braves' run. Closing out the game, Bradley went on a 5-0 run in the final minutes as the Braves grabbed the 92-47 win.

Evansville opened the game shooting 44% (11-25) from the field to Bradley's 44.8% (13-29) in the first half, but the Braves' offense found its rhythm in the final 20 minutes as BU shot 22-39 (56.4%) in the second half while the Aces shot just 4-21 (19.0%) from the field to close the contest.

The Aces close-out their two-game Illinois road swing on Sunday afternoon when Evansville travels for a 1 p.m. matchup in Normal, Ill. with Illinois State.

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