UE women’s basketball battles but falls short to Missouri State Lady Bears

The Purple Aces forced 18 turnovers on a team that only averages 15 a game

EVANSVILLE, Ind. – A quiet fourth quarter kept the University of Evansville women’s basketball team from its third straight Missouri Valley Conference win in a 72-56 loss to the Missouri State Lady Bears.

It was a one to two-possession game for three quarters, but the Aces couldn’t finish out against one of the top teams in the Valley on Saturday. Despite struggles in the rebounding game, UE forced more turnovers from the Lady Bears than themselves for only the fifth game this season. All but one Evansville player recorded a steal through 40 minutes while forward Neveah Thomas again led the Aces in scoring and rebounds with 19 points and six rebounds.

“The final score just doesn’t reflect how close this game was,” said Head Coach Robyn Scherr-Wells following the loss. “I’m so proud of the effort our players gave, being able to go into the fourth quarter with a one-possession game and going toe-to-toe with them for three quarters.

“It shows the growth of our team to be sitting here so disappointed that we didn’t win this game considering where we were a month ago. I’m really proud of our effort, we just ran out of gas in the fourth quarter because Missouri State made everything tough. They’re so good defensively, they made every shot tough to come by. And they showed why they’re one of the better teams in the conference right now.”

Saturday afternoon was a slow start on both sides as the first bucket took almost two minutes to make. UE took the early lead on a layup by guard Kynidi Mason Striverson. But Missouri State took off on a 12-point run to go up by double-digits with four minutes in the first quarter. Slowly but surely Evansville brought down the Lady Bears lead with a five-point run and a four-point run one after the other. Thomas had the last shot of the quarter, a layup with 12 seconds left to make it a one-possession game for the Aces.

UE’s offense kept clicking in the second quarter as guard Julia Palomo sunk a three in the first minute to tie the game. Evansville took their second lead less than 30 seconds later as Mason Striverson made a key layup to go up by two. But the Aces didn’t stay up for long as it became a shot-for-shot knockdown for four minutes. Missouri State was able to grab the first run of the quarter for a two-point lead with three minutes left. UE was able to answer as Palomo hit another three to kick off another basket for basket pace. The Lady Bears ended the quarter on a six to two run putting Evansville down by four points going into the second half.

An early foul gave the Aces the first point of the second half as Thomas split free throws at the line. UE returned to the line just a minute later as Evansville’s post-players made it a one-point game early in the third. The back-and-forth tempo came back as Missouri State tried to keep the Aces at bay. But UE took back the lead on back-to-back layups from Thomas and forward Maggie Hartwig shortly before the media timeout. Evansville extended its lead to four with 3:20 on the clock after going on a seven-point run. But the Lady Bears were able to respond with a run of their own to end the quarter with the Aces down 53-50.

After three close quarters battling with Missouri State, UE began to run out of gas, only scoring six points in the final 10 minutes. Guard Tené Smith had Evansville’s first two points of the six at the line in the first minute and a half. But the Aces had a minute-and-a-half scoring spell broken by Thomas, who had the final four points of the game for UE. The Lady Bears ended the game on a six-point run handing Evansville the 73-56 loss.

Three Aces players ended the afternoon in double figures led by Thomas with 19. Mason Striverson and Hartwig added 11 points each while Hartwig also had five rebounds. Three players also recorded two steals each as Thomas, Hartwig, and guard Lexie Sinclair forced turnovers from Missouri State.

UE hits the road for its next game on Thursday, Feb. 22. Evansville will make its way up US 41 to Terre Haute for a rematch with Indiana State. The Aces began the Valley season against the Sycamores in a 66-49 loss. Tip-off from the Hulman Center on Thursday is set for 5 p.m. CT.