EVANSVILLE - Continuing its impressive start to the season, the University of Evansville women's basketball team battled and showed intensity on the defensive end in a 67-57 win over Eastern Kentucky on Wednesday night inside the Ford Center in downtown Evansville.

"I think they just knew that we didn't play our best game in the first half and they knew that we can play better than that and we came out and we just kind of kept building that lead and we gained confidence as it went," said Aces head women's basketball coach Robyn Scherr-Wells. "I'm so proud of our girls. They have worked so hard for this and they're starting to believe. You can see that on the court. We're getting better with each game, so I'm excited with where we're at. We've got a lot of things we've got to grow and get better at, but I'm just really proud of where we're at."

For the third-straight time to open this season, junior Abby Feit led the way for Evansville offensively, scoring a game-high 18 points on an efficient 8-11 performance from the field, while battling foul trouble for much of the second half. Also finishing in double-figures were seniors A'Niah Griffin (14 points) and Anna Newman (13) both coming off the bench to aid the Aces effort. The Colonels were led by Jayla Johnson on the night, who tallied 14 points for EKU before fouling-out after 22 minutes on the floor.

The early portions of the game were marked by turnovers as both teams combined for six turnovers inside the first 2:06 of the contest. After the early sloppiness, both teams settled in and Evansville grabbed an early five-point lead at 9-4. Feit dominated the stat sheet early, scoring 14 of Evansville's first 20 points, but its was the Colonels who held the lead on the scoreboard. EKU stretched its lead as large as eight on three separate occasions midway through the second quarter before Evansville began to battle back. On the offensive end, Feit knocked-down a three with 5:44 left in the opening half, which was followed-up by a triple from Griffin that trimmed EKU's advantage to just two. Down the stretch of the second quarter, Newman's offense was key, scoring six points in the final four minutes of the half, helping Evansville retake a two-point advantage at the break.

 To begin the second half, EKU quickly retook the lead on a three by Johnson just 12 seconds in, but the Aces answered 21 seconds later with a triple from Newman to regain UE the lead. Evansville would never look back after taking the lead on Newman's three, but the second half was not without its tense moments. The Colonels kept Evansville within five points or less through much of the third quarter until a stifling defensive effort paid dividends for the Aces late in the period. 

The Aces limited the Colonels to just 22.9% shooting in the second half, allowing EKU to hit just eight second-half field goals, while Evansville's offense continued to be efficient, shooting 46.2% over the final 20 minutes. Evansville's lead reached its largest point at 16 with less than 90 seconds left in the game before EKU turned-up the pressure late and inched back within 10 in the Aces 67-57 win.

The win earns Evansville its first 3-0 start since the 1997-98 campaign when UE captured five-straight wins to open the season. Evansville's start marks just the second time in program history that the Aces have won their first three games by double-digits, matching the 1972-73 team coached by Evansville women's sports pioneer Lois Patton that secured double-digit victories over Oakland City, Vincennes, and IU Nurses in program's third season of the modern era.

Evansville will take to the road for the first time this season with a trip to take on unbeaten Eastern Illinois at 6 PM on Saturday in Charleston, Ill.
 

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