ISU women fall short of MVC final with overtime loss

The Illinois State women’s basketball team completed one furious comeback Saturday in their bid to reach the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament championship game, but also needed a second rally in overtime that fell short.

The Redbirds fell to No. 10 seed Evansville, 75-70, in the MVC Tournament semifinals at Xtreme Arena in Coralville, Iowa.

ISU (20-13) trailed for much of the game before an early fourth-quarter run that included consecutive layups from senior Addison Martin put the Redbirds up 47-43 with 7:55 to go. The Purple Aces pulled ahead 58-52 with 2:18 to go before ISU clawed back. A 25-foot 3-pointer by freshman Jaeden Pratt brought ISU to within two, and a Bella Finnegan 3 tied the game at 60 with 8 seconds to go, setting up overtime.

Evansville would reclaim the lead in the extra five minutes as ISU fell behind and two of its starters, Pratt and sophomore Trista Fayta, fouled out.

Three Redbird layups in the final 33 seconds trimmed a six-point deficit to 71-70, before Evansville added to the lead with two free throws and a long 3-point try by Martin was off target. The Aces iced the game with two more free throws.

Evansville (10-24) pulled off its third upset in three days to become the first 10 seed in the MVC women’s tournament to reach the championship game. The Aces will play top-seeded Murray State at 1 p.m. Sunday.

The Racers downed No. 4 seed Northern Iowa, 72-59, in the earlier semifinal.

Sophomore Doneelah Washington, a first-term All-MVC honoree, led ISU with 24 points.

Kristen Gillespie’s Redbirds will await word of a possible bit to the WNIT, where ISU advanced to the semifinals last season.