Quiet third quarter drops UE women’s basketball at Missouri State
Two 10-point quarters kept the Purple Aces behind the Lady Bears
SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – The University of Evansville women’s basketball team dropped its final conference game in Great Southern Bank Arena 86-57 to the Missouri State Lady Bears.
In the Purple Aces final Missouri Valley Conference trip to Springfield, the team didn’t find enough offense to win one last time in the Show Me State. UE’s offense only had one 20+ point quarter, but the defense was able to keep up in the rebound game with 35 boards. Freshman guard Camryn Runner (Cicero, Ind. / Hamilton Heights HS) led Evansville with 21 points thanks to a perfect 13 of 13 performance at the free throw line.
It was a back-and-forth battle early in Springfield as the lead was traded three times in the first five minutes. The Aces led for just over two minutes before Missouri State tied the game up. UE got the game to eight all halfway through the first. But the Lady Bears pulled away on a 12-point run over the next two and a half minutes. Runner made her first free throws of the game in the final minute and a half of the first for a 22-10 game.
The second quarter began similar to the first with the teams trading shots. Evansville’s offense was able to find its groove with a six-point run to get back within double digits of Missouri State. But a matching run from the Lady Bears pushed the deficit up to 13. The Aces responded with five points and shutting down Missouri State’s offense for over three minutes. But a technical foul from the UE sidelines gave the Lady Bears another opportunity to again make it a 13-point game heading into halftime.
Evansville found some early success in the third quarter with four points in under a minute. Yet the Aces offense struggled for much of the rest of the third. UE went scoreless from the floor for over five minutes as Missouri State took a 24-point lead. Senior guard Júlia Palomo (La Seu d’Urgell, Spain) broke the drought with a floater with 2:54 on the clock. Palomo had Evansville’s last bucket of the third, taking a quick cut through the paint to the basket. The Aces headed into the final 10 minutes at Great Southern Bank Arena trailing 61-36.
UE had its best quarter on offense in the fourth, scoring 21 points over the final 10 minutes. Freshman guard Kaiden Kreinhagen (Indianapolis / North Central HS) kicked off the scoring early with her second three of the game. Three straight trips to the line for Evansville almost brought the game back under 20 points. The Lady Bears answered with an 8-2 run pushing the lead to almost 30. Runner headed back to the line for two more points but a depleted Aces bench found themselves in foul trouble shortly after. With UE’s rotation down to only six players the team struggled to get stops on Missouri State down the stretch. A long layup for Runner ended the game as Evansville fell to the Lady Bears 86-57.
Runner and Palomo were the Aces only double-figure scorers on the night at 21 and 10 points. Sophomore Maggie Hartwig (Sauk City, Wis. / Sauk Prairie HS) led UE in rebounds with nine despite missing the final seven minutes of the game. Hartwig was closely followed behind by freshman Elle Snyder (Latrobe, Penn. / Greater Latrobe HS) with six boards.
Evansville returns to action next week at home against Bradley. The Aces will take on the Braves on Thursday, February 13 at 6 p.m. from Meeks Family Fieldhouse.
