CARBONDALE, Ill. – The University of Evansville women's basketball team won their second game in a row on Thursday night, taking down Southern Illinois in Carbondale by a score of 75-70. The win was Evansville's first in Carbondale since February 17, 2017 and snapped a 28 game road losing streak.

Camryn Runner (Cicero, Ind./Hamilton Heights) continued her torrid stretch with 26 points, leading all scorers, while adding six rebounds, five assists, and three blocks. The sophomore scored 20 points in the second half, including 12 in the fourth quarter. Runner has scored 20-plus points in three of the last four games and sunk a season-high 13 free throws on 14 attempts. Sydney Huber (Cedar Rapids, Iowa/Mount Vernon) added 15 points, two shy of her career-high, while fellow freshman Georgia Ferguson (Waterloo, Ontario/Cairine Wilson Secondary School) added 10 points to match her career-high.

The game was competitive from the jump, with the Aces and Salukis trading blows throughout the first quarter. Evansville grabbed their first lead of the night at 9-7 with an and-one from Mireia Mustaros (Barcelona, Spain/Ins Argentona). The two sides continued to go back and forth, as the score would become tied five times in the next five minutes, before the Salukis pulled ahead with a 21-19 lead at the end of the quarter.

Evansville regained the lead at the 8:33 mark of the second quarter on a three-pointer from Huber, but the Salukis quickly took the lead back with a 9-0 run. Facing their largest deficit of the game at 32-24, the Aces stormed back, scoring eight unanswered points to tie it at 32. The run was punctuated by another and-one, this time from Ferguson. SIU woud respond, however, scoring the final four points of the half to take a 36-32 lead into the break.

The Salukis remained in front for most of the third quarter, but the Aces made a run late in the period on consecutive baskets by Ferguson, Huber, and Jelena Savic (Melbourne, Australia/Kurunjang Secondary College) to retake the lead at 52-49 before ending the quarter with a 5-51 advantage.

Once again, the teams traded punches in the fourth quarter, with SIU taking a 59-58 lead at the 6:14 mark. Georgia Cox (Ballarat, Australia/Eastern Illinois) gave the Aces the lead back with a tough left-handed finish at the rim, while a three from Runner after a Saluki basket made it 63-61.

With the score all tied up at 67 with 3:05 remaining, Runner took over, beating the shot clock on a baseline out of bounds play to before finding Logan Luebbers Palmer (Union, Ky./Randall K. Cooper) in transition for a tough finish in traffic to give the Aces a 71-64 lead. Needing to hit her free throws to seal it, Runner went a perfect 4-for-4 from the line down the stretch to lead Evansville to a 75-70 win.

Evansville remains on the road this weekend, looking to win their third game in a row with a trip to Illinois State on Sunday. Tip-off is set for 2 PM.