Box Score | Postgame Comments

CHICAGO - Taylor Manuel easily surpassed her career high, scoring 29 points, as Loyola defeated Evansville, 70-58, this evening inside Gentile Arena. The win, Loyola's first in conference play, moves the Ramblers to 3-18 overall (1-9 Missouri Valley), while the Purple Aces slip below the .500 mark to 10-11 (5-5 Missouri Valley).

Loyola looked to set the tone for the evening in the game's opening minutes. A pair of Taylor Johnson free throws put the Ramblers on the board first (2-0) and ignited a 12-0 run to begin the game for Loyola. A three-pointer from Sara Dickey, Evansville's leading scorer coming into the night, ended a nearly six-minute scoring drought to begin the game for the visitors and cut the Purple Aces' deficit to nine (12-3) with 14:08 to play in the first half.

The Ramblers would push their lead back into double figures on a pair of different occasions in the half's middle stages before Evansville began to chip away. A 7-0 run, capped off by a Khristian Hart layup, brought the Purple Aces back to within four (16-12) at the 11:37 mark. Loyola answered right back with the game's next six points, four of which came from Manuel, to reestablish a ten-point advantage (22-12) with 8:23 remaining in the half. Sam Lambrigtsen scored on the Ramblers' third chance of a possession with just under three minutes to play to give the Maroon & Gold its largest lead of the evening (28-14). Two Dickey free throws to close the scoring in the first half sent Loyola into the locker room protecting a 34-24 lead at halftime.

Manuel closed the opening stanza with a team-high 10 points and was followed closely by Johnson and Becca Smith, who each chipped in eight of their own. The Ramblers finished the half at just over 46% (12-of-26) from the field, while holding Evansville to only eight first-half field goals (29%). Dickey contributed 12 points to lead the Purple Aces' attack.

Manuel found herself right back in the mix to begin the second half as she took advantage of an undersized Evansville frontcourt to score the Ramblers' first four points, pushing the lead to twelve (38-26) on her layup with two minutes gone. Evansville ratcheted up its defense shortly after, taking advantage of a three and a half-minute scoring drought for Loyola to battle back to within four (38-34) with 14:26 to play in regulation. Manuel attempted to slam the breaks on Evansville comeback when she converted an old-fashioned three-point play to push the lead back up to seven (41-34) at the 13:59 mark. The Purple Aces refused to go away however, fighting all the way back to take their first lead of the game (54-53) on a Peyton Langston jumper with 8:27 remaining.

With the game knotted up at 55 following another Manuel score and a split at the line from Dickey, Lambrigtsen knocked down a contested triple to put Loyola back on top (58-55) with 6:31 to play. Manuel scored the Ramblers' next five points, the last two of which put the home team up five (62-57) with three minutes to go. Following a stop of the defensive end, Molly Crosby knocked down a pair from the charity stripe to bump the lead to seven points (64-57) with less than two minutes to play in the game. Loyola went on to seal the game from the free throw line en route to a 70-58 victory.

19 of Manuel's career-high 29 points came in the second half as Loyola held a dominant 38-8 edge in points in the paint. She was joined in double figures in scoring by Smith (12) and Johnson (10). Manuel, a native of St. Louis, Mo., also came away with nine rebounds, finishing just one carom shy of her fifth double-double since the start of Valley play. Dickey finished with 24 points to pace the Purple Aces on the offensive end of the floor.

The Ramblers will look to carry over the momentum from tonight's victory when they host Indiana State on Sunday afternoon at Gentile Arena. Tip-off against the Sycamores is slated for 2 p.m.