TERRE HAUTE, Ind. -- After a split last week with Southern Illinois and Missouri State, the University of Evansville women's basketball team is looking to get back to conference wins on Thursday night.
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 After back-to-back conference wins for the first time since 2017, UE wasn't able to make it three games straight on Saturday in a 72-56 loss to Missouri State. The Aces hung with the Lady Bears within a possession through three quarters but ran out of gas in the 4th quarter.Â
Indiana State comes into Thursday's game, after a loss to Southern Illinois on Saturday afternoon. The Sycamores have four Valley wins on the year, including their prior meeting Evansville to start conference play. Indiana State has excelled this season in three-point defense, as Valley teams have connected on just 25.7 percent of their 3-point attempts against ISU. The Sycamores are the only team in the MVC with a 3-point defense better than 28 percent in conference play.Â
Freshman forward Maggie Hartwig added her fifth double-double of the season in 35 minutes against Southern Illinois. Hartwig led UE in scoring with 22 points and led on the defensive side of the ball, grabbing 12 boards. Hartwig also extended her double-digit scoring streak to five games against Missouri State with 11 points. For her performance last week, she was named the Missouri Valley Conference Freshman of the Week for the third time this season. It was her first honor during conference play after two during the non-conference portion of the season.
Two players set career-scoring highs against the Salukis on Thursday evening. Junior guard Lexie Sinclair had her best offensive game with 20 points and six assists for two new records. Freshman guard Tené Smith scored 16 points, going a perfect 5-5 from the floor to set a new career high. The Aces are also now perfect in overtime games on the season following Thursday's victory. UE pulled off a win at Chicago State in three overtime periods along with the 93-89 win over SIU.
