Robinson joins 500-rebound club in loss to Loyola

Women’s Basketball will return to action on Sunday against Bradley

 Sasha Robinson joined an elite club for the University of Evansville women’s basketball team on Friday night as the junior pulled down 11 rebounds in a 63-49 loss to Loyola at the Ford Center.

The total was a season high for Robinson as the Nashville, Ind., native helped the Aces (1-13, 0-3 MVC) actually out-rebound the visiting Ramblers (6-7, 2-0 MVC), who boast of one of the top front courts in the Missouri Valley Conference. Robinson now has 505 boards in her career, and she is 59 away from moving into the top 10 in school history.

“It’s not easy to out-rebound a team like that,” UE head coach Oties Epps said. “Sasha did a great job in that match-up on the glass. Both Sara and Kenyia did extremely well for us too, but we needed to be better on defense tonight.”

The Aces were led offensively by the trio of Sara Dickey, Kenyia Johnson and Aaliyah Gaines as the team made a concerted effort to attack the rim all night. Dickey ended with 14 points and Johnson was 6-of-10 from the field with 12. Gaines added another 10 off the bench, but the group was no match for the Rambler duo of Taylor Manuel and Dakota Vann, which combined for 34 points.

“I thought we created a lot of good looks at the basket, but we have to find that healthy balance between going all the way, pulling up and kicking out for the three when we drive the lane,” Epps said. “I think we’ll get better at that once we sit down and study the film. We have to take care of the ball better too because our margin for error is too small to give it away like we did tonight.”

Dickey now has 1,368 points for her career, which is the fifth-best total in UE history.

After falling behind early the Aces were able to keep pace with the visitors in the second quarter before eventually cutting the deficit to two points less than three minutes into the third. However, Loyola responded forcefully, reeling off 14 consecutive points to take a commanding 46-30 lead late in the frame and effectively put things out of reach for UE.

The Aces will be back in action on Sunday as MVC play will continue against Bradley at 1 p.m. at the Ford Center.