Women’s Basketball falls 64-57 to Illinois State

Sara Dickey had another strong outing for the University of Evansville women’s basketball team on Friday night, but it wouldn’t be enough as the Purple Aces fell 64-57 to Illinois State at the Ford Center.

Dickey, who currently ranks fourth on the all-time scoring list for UE, finished the night with 22 points on 9-of-19 shooting to lead all scorers. The Montezuma, Ind., native also pulled down a game-best nine rebounds, to go along with a pair of assists, a block and a steal. A junior, Dickey has scored 1,463 points in her career, and she is just 17 shy of moving up to third in school history.

Camary Williams, a junior guard out of Ft. Myers, Fla., added 10 points for the Aces (2-17, 1-7 Missouri Valley), while freshmen Camille Coleman and Jordan Campbell combined for another 16.

“We haven’t had the consistency that we’ve liked this season, so sometimes we have to rotate kids to try and find that spark,” UE head coach Oties Epps said. “Tonight, I thought Camary gave us a really nice effort, and Jordan did a good job for us as well. We still need to find a way to put together a full 40 minutes instead of a good three quarters.”

Meanwhile, the Redbirds (5-14, 3-5 MVC) rode the hot shooting of Colleene Smith and Shakeela Fowler to victory. The duo was 14-of-23 from the field for 35 points, and Katrina Beck kicked in another 13 as ISU capitalized on UE miscues, outscoring the Aces 19-9 off turnovers.

It was a slow start that ultimately spelled doom for the Aces as the visitors out of Normal, Ill., ran out to a 25-13 advantage after the opening 10 minutes. However, UE would respond to hold ISU to just seven in the second quarter to trim the deficit to seven and head into the half down 32-25.

From there, both sides would play even, with each team scoring 17 and 15 in the third and fourth quarters. The Aces would pull within two points on three occasions in the final 10 minutes, punctuated by a Dickey three-pointer to make it 54-52 with just 3:31 left in the game. However, the Redbirds responded with back-to-back buckets from Smith and Octavia Crump to re-establish the six-point cushion and put ISU back in control.

The Aces will return to the Ford Center on Sunday with an 11 a.m. tipoff against Indiana State.