UE women’s basketball earns second MVC win over Bradley
The Purple Aces forced a season-high 27 turnovers from the Braves
EVANSVILLE, Ind. – The University of Evansville women’s basketball team led for almost 30 minutes in its 55-45 win over the Bradley Braves on Thursday night.
The Purple Aces earned their second win of Missouri Valley Conference play in a defensive battle against Bradley. After dropping their road contest in Peoria by only a basket, UE turned on the gas to pull away from the Braves in the fourth quarter. Three Evansville players ended the night in double figures while freshman guard Logan Leubbers Palmer (Union, Ky. / Randall K. Cooper HS) set a career-high in made field goals with six.
“I’m really thrilled with how our kids played tonight, especially in the second half,” said Head Coach Robyn Scherr. “I thought we did a really nice job of creating just enough separation in each quarter. And as we were going into the fourth quarter, I told these guys to play to win. No one was going to be timid. No one was going to hope that we didn’t make a mistake. We need to go out and take it. And I thought they did just that. I’m really really proud of the girls.”
The Aces got off to a hot start on Thursday night, shooting 50% from the floor in the first quarter. Senior guard Júlia Palomo (La Seu d’Urgell, Spain) began the scoring with a three in the first 40 seconds. It was only treys being scored for the first three minutes until Palmer had her first of five buckets in the paint. UE held the lead in the first until over halfway through when Bradley tied up the game with under four on the clock. Evansville held onto the lead until the final minute. The Braves took a brief lead at the end of the first, but the Aces regained the upper hand in the final seconds.
It was a slow second quarter for UE as it took over two minutes to make a basket. Both teams had a two-and-a-half-minute scoreless streak midway through the second. Evansville broke up the drought as Palmer cut to the basket. The Aces and Bradley traded shots until the final minute and a half of the half. The Braves put together a five-point run to pull ahead of UE by a point going into halftime.
Bradley kept the momentum into the start of the second half as Evansville tied the game up three times in the first three minutes. The Aces began to pull ahead on an eight-point run as the Braves didn’t score for over five minutes. UE had a six-point lead with 2:16 left in the third quarter. But a three-point run for Bradley made it only a three-point Evansville lead heading into the final 10 minutes of the game.
The Aces had their highest-scoring quarter of the night in the final 10 minutes starting with a seven-point run for a double-digit lead. The Braves were able to respond with a brief four-point run. UE’s defense kicked it up a notch after the run, not letting Bradley score multiple baskets in a row the rest of the game. Evansville ended on a 12-5 run to pick up the team’s second Valley win of the season.
Freshman guard Camryn Runner (Cicero, Ind. / Hamilton Heights HS) led the Aces on offense with 17 points and four assists thanks to 14 made free throws. Palmer almost hit her season high with 14 points while sophomore forward Maggie Hartwig (Sauk City, Wis. / Sauk Prairie HS) had her seventh double-double with 13 points and 13 rebounds. Despite not scoring much over 33 minutes Palomo led UE with six assists to help distribute the offense across the floor.
Evansville will play its annual Play4Kay game to raise awareness for the fight against breast cancer on Saturday afternoon. The Aces will wear pink accessories in their game against Illinois State on February 15. Tip-off against the Redbirds in Meeks Family Fieldhouse is set for 2 p.m.
