TERRE HAUTE, Ind. - Both Indiana State and Evansville had everything in the world to play for as the end of the regular season looms on Thursday night (March 6) at Hulman Center, but it was the Sycamores who withstood a pair of second half Purple Ace rallies to take a thrilling 66-61 victory in front of 3,066 fans.
ISU improves to 13-14, 7-10 MVC while Evansville fell to 19-9, 13-4 MVC.
Evansville was looking to hold onto their perch at the top of the MVC standings, while ISU was trying to keep their hopes alive of avoiding the play-in round of next week's MVC Tournament. The Purple Aces will still have a chance to secure the league's top seed on Saturday at Illinois State, while ISU will need a victory over Southern Illinois on Saturday, plus a little help from their friends.
The Sycamores owned a 13-point lead at the 7:59 mark of the second half after a jump shot by Angela Phillips. Evansville went on a 9-0 run over the next three minutes which was capped by a 3-pointer from Robyn Jennings to trim the ISU lead down to 52-48 with 5:03 showing on the clock.
ISU answered back with back-to-back 3-pointers of its own, one by Angela and the other by Leah Phillips to give ISU a 58-48 cushion with 3:48 left in the game.
After a free throw by Annie Bankhead put ISU ahead 59-48 with just over three minutes remaining, the Purple Aces got a jumper by Ashley Austin, another 3-pointer by Jennings and a lay-up by Shannon Novosel to make it close again at 59-55 with 1:26 left.
Kelsey Luna broke the Sycamores' dry spell with a driving lay-up to make it 61-55 and after a missed shot by Evansville; Luna got the defensive rebound and was fouled. She stepped to the line and knocked both free throws to put ISU ahead 63-55 with 41 seconds left.
The lead would not prove to be comfortable enough as Felke hit a 3-pointer from nearly 30-feet out to make it 63-58 with 28 seconds on the clock. Angela Phillips would miss the front end of a one-and-one situation, but Bankhead came down with the tough offensive rebound and was fouled. She hit 1-of-2 free throws to put ISU ahead 64-58 with 21 seconds on the clock.
Tough defense for Indiana State was not good enough on the Purple Aces next possession, as a whirling-dervish type 3-pointer by Ashlee Barrett of Evansville found a way home to trim the Sycamore lead down to just 64-61 with 15 seconds remaining.
Angela Phillips put the exclamation point on her game-high, 24-point outing with a pair of free throws to give Indiana State a hard-fought 66-61 victory over Evansville, who entered the contest with a one-game lead in The Valley standings over Illinois State.
ISU held a 34-27 advantage at halftime, after trailing by four points, 25-21, with 4:32 left before the break. Annie Bankhead hit a wide-open 3-point shot and then Parker and Angela Phillips traded lay-ups to keep Evansville ahead, 27-26. A steal by ISU led to fast-break bucket by Bankhead for the 28-27 lead, and then Rudolphi hit three consecutive free throws for a 31-27 lead.
Bankhead drilled her second first half 3-pointer with four seconds left for the 34-27 halftime lead.
Phillips paced ISU in the scoring column with her third consecutive 20-plus point outing with 24 points and five assists. She hit 8-of-16 shots from the field, including a 3-of-7 mark from 3-point range. She was 5-of-6 from the free throw line as she entered the game, having hit 21 of her last 22 charity tosses.
Also in double figures was Laura Rudolphi, who scored 11 points, all in the first half as well as Bankhead, who scored 11.
Jennings paced the Purple Aces with 19 points, while Rebekah Parker added 12 despite only playing 28 minutes as she battled foul trouble and eventually fouled out of the game. Shannon Novosel scored 11 points for Evansville.
Evansville out-shot Indiana State by a 42.9% to 42.0% margin, plus the scored 11 second chance points off the strength of 12 offensive rebounds.
The Sycamores hit 17 free throws in the game and forced Evansville into 21 turnovers, which ISU was able to scored 21 points off those miscues. ISU turned the ball over just 12 times, allowing Evansville to score just 11 points of those scores.
Evansville out-rebounded ISU by a 37-26 margin, as Kara Schilli pulled down a team-best six rebounds. Jennings led the Purple Aces with 10 rebounds as she posted a double-double with 19 points and those 10 boards.
The Indiana State victory breaks a two-game losing streak overall as well as a three-game losing streak to the Purple Aces.
The Sycamores now turn their focus to Southern Illinois in the regular season finale on Saturday, March 8 at Hulman Center. Tonight's victory coupled with Missouri State's 61-58 loss to Drake puts ISU in position to climb out of the play-in game at next week's State Farm MVC Tournament. The Sycamores will need a victory over the Salukis coupled with a loss by either the Lady Bears against Creighton or a loss by Northern Iowa at Bradley to reach either the fifth or sixth seed in the tournament. Tip-off versus the Salukis is set for 2:05 p.m. (EST).
It will be Senior Day on the ISU campus as the Sycamores will honor Angela Phillips, Laura Rudolphi and Anne Thatcher as they play the final games of their career at Hulman Center.
