Evansville’s Laura Gaybrick once again saved her best for the Missouri State Lady Bears, as her layup with 24 seconds left in regulation gave the Evansville Purple Aces a 57-55 victory over MSU in Missouri Valley Conference women’s basketball action Saturday evening at Hammons Student Center.
With the score knotted at 55-55, UE’s Rebekah Parker notched the biggest of her game-high seven assists when she found Gaybrick wide open under the basket for the go-ahead basket.
Gaybrick’s game-winner followed a pair of Tiff Terwelp free throws that had tied the game at the 41-second mark after Ashley Austin’s three-pointer from the right corner had turned a one-point Missouri State lead into a 55-53 UE advantage with 54 seconds to go.
Evansville overcame a 27.8 percent (15-of-54) shooting performance in which the Purple Aces hit just four field goals in the game’s final 10 minutes. Gaybrick, who accounted for three of those baskets, matched her season single-game scoring high with 15 points and connected on 9-of-11 free throw attempts for the ballgame. The junior center also scored 15 points in UE’s 82-72 win over Missouri State on Jan. 1 in Evansville.
Missouri State led by two at the break behind another brilliant shooting performance from junior guard Tahnee Balerio.The Valley’s leading scorer connected on five of her seven three point attempts in the period, the last of which gave the Lady Bears a 32-30 lead with just three seconds left in the half.
Terwelp also turned in a big first half for MSU with seven points and five rebounds. The junior forward carried the offensive load for the Lady Bears early in the second half as well, totaling seven points in the first 6:47 of the period to help Missouri State build its lead to as many as nine points.
The Lady Bears were able to hold Evansville in check for most of the second half with a solid defensive effort that held the Purple Aces without a field goal for over seven minutes late in the game. But Evansville, which entered the contest as the nation’s sixth-best free-throw shooting team, hit 7-of-8 foul shots over a three and a half minute span to take a 52-48 lead with 2:55 to play. Two free throws from Roxy Stiles and a Balerio three-point play turned the tables in Missouri State’s favor, giving the home team a one-point advantage before Austin’s big shot set the stage for Gaybrick’s heroics.
Missouri State shot just .288 (17-of-59) from the field and was outrebounded by a 49-38 margin. After giving up six three-point baskets in the first half, Evansville held the Lady Bears without a three-pointer in the second half.
Balerio was held to just four second-half points to finish with a game-high 19, and Terwelp tallied 16 points and seven rebounds. Parker contributed 13 points and eight boards to go along with her seven assists for UE.
With the loss, the Lady Bears wrapped up the regular season with a 7-20 mark overall and a 3-15 record in MVC play. Evansville improved to 18-11 on the season with an 11-7 mark in the conference.
Next up, Missouri State will take on seventh-seeded Bradley in the opening round of the State Farm MVC Tournament in Des Moines, Iowa on Thursday, March 8, at 8:35 p.m.
