EVANSVILLE - Despite leading for more than 23 minutes, the University of Evansville women's basketball team say Southern Illinois mount a late run inn a 70-57 loss to the Salukis on Friday evening inside Meeks Family Fieldhouse.

The two halves featured two different leading scorers for the Aces. Freshman Abby Feit finished with a team-high 16 points along with six rebounds, five assists, four steals, and a pair of blocks, scoring 14 points in the first half. Redshirt junior Jada Poland tallied 14 points for the Aces with six coming in the second half. For the Salukis, Kristen Nelson paced SIU with a game-high 19 points, shooting 6-11 from the field.

The key stretch of the contest came in the final minutes of the third quarter as the Salukis saw their run get ignited. Trailing by as many as 13 at 45-32 with 3:21 left in the third period, SIU battled themselves back within seven at the end of the quarter, down 49-42. The run for SIU continued in the fourth quarter as the Salukis out-scored Evansville, 28-8, in the final 10 minutes.
 

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Box Score (PDF)

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Evansville shot the lights out of the fieldhouse in the first 30 minutes of the game, going 20-39 (51.3%) from the field through the third quarter. The Aces defense during that period stifled the Salukis' offensive efforts, limiting SIU to 32 points through 26 minutes of play and holding their opponent to a 35.5% field goal percentage in the first three quarters. Both team's shooting performances dramatically flipped in the fourth quarter as Evansville shot just 2-13 (15.4%), while the Salukis hit 83.3% (10-12) from the field in the fourth.

Evansville next welcomes in No. 22 Missouri State to Meeks Family Fieldhouse on Sunday afternoon at 1 PM for the Aces' Lace Up 4 Pediatric Cancer game. Coaches, student-athletes, gameday staff, and Aces spirit will all be donning yellow shoe laces to support the cause. Every year in the United States, 15,000 kids are diagnosed with cancer.  Go4theGoal works with hospitals across the country to provide financial assistance, grant wishes, develop and fund unique hospital programs, and fund innovative research!

Lace Up 4 Pediatric Cancer directly benefits patients in the states where the funds are raise, so all funds raised as part of the Aces' effort will stay in Indiana. Those interested in aiding the effort, can give to the cause by visiting the Aces' campaign page here.