Robinson ties career high in loss at UNI

Sasha Robinson and Camille Coleman enjoyed breakout performances for the University of Evansville women’s basketball team, but their efforts would ultimately prove all for naught as Northern Iowa was able to weather every Purple Aces run to pick up the 62-51 decision at the McLeod Center on Friday night.

“I feel like we kind of let this game get away from us,” UE head coach Oties Epps said. “We had an opportunity to steal a win on the road here tonight. We didn’t execute as well as we should in certain situations, and it cost us.”

With the loss, the Aces fell to 1-11 on the year and 0-1 in Missouri Valley Conference play. Meanwhile, UNI moved to 6-6 and 1-0, respectively.

Robinson, who returned from injury four games ago, continued to establish herself as an offensive force for UE this season, tying a career high with 17 points on 7-of-14 shooting. She also pulled seven boards. Coleman was a spark off the bench for the Aces in the second half, finishing 5-for-9 from the field with 14 points.

However, UNI’s defensive efforts were able to stymie UE leading scorer Sara Dickey, who was held to nine points, marking just the third time this season that the junior has failed to score double-digits. She would still continue her climb up the school’s all-time scoring list, ending the night with 1,337 for her career, which is the sixth-best total in school history.

“UNI always does a good job against Sara, and they did again tonight,” Epps said. “They dedicate three players to try to make her life miserable and make her work for everything. It’s really hard, but on the flip side, she did a great job on defense. We didn’t get as much offense as we would like, but she made up for it on the other side of the court. We just need to work on getting her some help on nights like this.”

Dickey and Kenyia Johnson, who had combined for 55 points over the previous two games, were held to just 12 on Friday night.

The Aces once again looked formidable for much of the opening half, weathering an early UNI flurry before taking control late in the first quarter with an 11-0 run to grab a 15-12 lead after the opening 10 minutes.

Madison Weekly, who ultimately led the Panthers with 17 points in the game, keyed a big second-quarter run for the hosts with seven points. UNI mounted its own 11-0 surge in the frame before a Coleman lay-up sent the game into the break with the Aces down 29-24.

The scoring woes would continue after the half for UE until an eight-point spurt from Coleman over a two-minute span late in the third quarter cut the deficit to six at 41-35. However, every Aces run seemed to be answered with a three-pointer or second-chance bucket on the other end, effectively preventing UE from gaining the momentum it needed to close out the game.

UNI hit six treys on the night to UE’s five, and the Aces actually out-rebounded the hosts 36-32 in the contest.

The Aces will return to action later this weekend with a trip to Drake to close out the first conference weekend of the year. Tipoff from Des Moines, Iowa, is slated for 4 p.m.