RICHMOND, Ky. – The EKU women's basketball team battled back from a 19-point first half deficit on Monday night, but fell 89-81 to Evansville in its season opener at McBrayer Court at Baptist Health Arena 

Antwainette Walker led the Colonels with a career-high 29 points on 12-of-14 shooting, adding 10 rebounds in her EKU debut, the highest individual point total from a Colonel since 2017. Ariel Kirkwood chipped in a double-double with 11 points and 15 rebounds. Alice Recanati dished a team-high six assists while playing all 40 minutes.
   
Evansville led by as many as nine in the first quarter, but Walker's layup in the closing seconds of the first period cut the Colonels' deficit to 29-22 after 10 minutes of play. The Purple Aces extended their lead with an 11-0 run early in the second quarter to make the score 42-25 with 6:10 to go in the first half.  

Trailing by 19 with less than three minutes left in the second period, EKU rallied as a Walker layup ignited a 12-2 Colonel run. Emma Hacker closed the half with seven consecutive points, including a four-point play, as EKU entered the half trailing 50-41.

The Colonels pulled within seven on an Ally Collett layup with 7:51 remaining in the third quarter, but Evansville scored 12 of the game's next 14 points to take a 65-48 lead with at the 2:04 mark. EKU responded again, closing the quarter on a 10-0 run to make the score 65-58 entering the fourth quarter.  

The Purple Aces opened the fourth quarter with five consecutive points before Walker's and-one trimmed the deficit to 70-61 with 7:43 remaining. EKU closed the gap to six with 6:10 to play when Danielle Rainey buried a corner three to make the score 73-67, giving the Colonels their smallest deficit since the opening minutes of the second quarter. 

However, Evansville pushed its lead back to double digits with 4:06 to go and held off EKU down the stretch to seal the victory.  

EKU's defense forced 25 turnovers on the night but committed 18 turnovers on the offensive end and allowed Evansville to shoot 14-of-28 (50.0 percent) from beyond the arc.

The Colonels were 28-of-72 (38.9 percent) from the floor and 6-of-16 (37.5 percent) from deep. Evansville won the rebounding battle, 43-41, while EKU held a 36-26 advantage in the paint.  

The Colonels are back in action on Friday night as EKU plays host to Appalachian State in a 7:00 p.m. tipoff.