EVANSVILLE, Ind. – In their third game at the Ford Center during the 2024-25 season the University of Evansville women's basketball team had its best game of the year from three-point range but fell in the final minute to the seventh-seeded UIC Flames.
It was a tale of two halves for the Purple Aces as they improved their shooting percentage by almost 10% in the second half. But UE wasn't able to comeback from an almost 20-point deficit in the second quarter to move onto the 2025 Credit Union 1 Missouri Valley Conference Tournament quarterfinals. As became the norm during the season freshman guard Camryn Runner (Cicero, Ind. / Hamilton Heights HS) and sophomore forward Maggie Hartwig (Sauk City, Wis. / Sauk Prairie HS) led Evansville on the floor. Runner had a team-high 24 points while Hartwig led the team in rebounds with nine while also pouring in 18 points.
It was a close game early in the Ford Center as the teams traded shots back and forth. Aces held the lead or were tied with UIC for the first half of the quarter as they made two of three shots from behind the arc. But with five fouls after only five minutes UE had to be careful on the defensive end to not give up free throws to UIC. The Flames got their first lead of the game after the media timeout with two at the line. UIC grew their lead to five points in just over a minute, but Evansville answered back with a layup on its next shot. Neither team scored until the final five seconds when the Flames made a layup to make it 18-13.
UIC began the second quarter on a seven-point run to widen the gap to 12 points forcing an early Aces timeout. The Flames added two more buckets out of the break for their largest lead of the game at 17 points. It took the Aces until almost four minutes in the quarter to get their first points, but UE was able to start closing the gap after the layup from Hartwig. A matching seven-point run from Evansville had the game at 32-25 for a stretch as Hartwig made four points and the defense shut down UIC for over three minutes. But the Aces ended the half on a three-minute scoreless going into the locker room trailing 36-25.
Both teams struggled to get any offense going to start the second half. UIC had the first points, but UE had its fifth three of the game to get back within 10. Neither team established a run up to the media timeout trading made baskets for under four minutes to a 45-34 score. Out of the timeout, Runner kick-started a 9-2 run with back-to-back three-point plays to get Evansville within four points. Traded layups ended the quarter as it was a close 49-45 with only 10 minutes to decide who would head to the quarterfinals.
Runner added another three points for the Aces within the first minute in the fourth. But the Flames offense started to get hot making eight points in the first three minutes to get the deficit back up to nine points. Five straight points out of the first timeout of the quarter for UE again made it a two-possession game. The teams traded baskets for a minute and a half until UIC had two straight layups to go up by eight.
Evansville got back within six points with two minutes left in the game but an Aces foul right after putting UIC in the bonus. The Flames player missed both of their free throws, but UE turned the ball over on the following possession which led to UIC returning to an eight-point lead. It was again Runner who got Evansville's offense going again with five points in 30 seconds including a three that made it only a five-point game. But a foul shortly after the triple and a missed jump shot put the game out of the Aces reach as they fell to the Flames 72-62.
UE shot 53.3% from behind the arc on Thursday night for its best three-point shooting game of the season. But Evansville was only 13 of 38 from the rest of the floor over 40 minutes to go 39.6% for the game. Runner and Hartwig were the only players in double figures for the Aces while forward Tamesha Dozier (Louisville, Ky. / Wabash Valley) came just shy with her best offensive performance against a Valley opponent with eight points. Freshman Avery Kelley (Evansville, Ind. / Memorial HS) was the only UE player with multiple assists, recording two.
Evansville ends the 2024-25 season with a 7-25 record, improving by three games from the previous season. The Aces say goodbye to four graduating players in guards Julia Palomo, Madlena Gerke, and Alana Striverson and forward Anica Skrivan.
Both Hartwig and Runner ended the season entering the UE program record book for points in a season. Hartwig's 511 points puts her sixth in program history for points in a season while Runner's 497 points makes her seventh. Runner's 497 points is the most by a freshman since program scoring leader Sara Dickey scored 546 points in her first year as an Ace in 2013-14. Hartwig is also now sixth in program history for most rebounds in a season with 285 boards.
