MOLINE, Ill. — University of Evansville head coach Matt Ruffing had an ace up his sleeve entering Friday evening's showdown with Missouri State, and he played it at just the right time as his Purple Aces women's basketball team pulled off the upset in a 65-59 victory over the Lady Bears in the quarterfinal round of the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament at the iWireless Center.
The sixth-seeded Aces (14-16) had lost both regular season meetings with the third-seeded Lady Bears (16-14) by an average of 30 points, and over the past two weeks, he and his team had been working on developing a zone defense that the team had not played all season.