I have some respectably intelligent people like my goody goody knight. Most are about average, I would say, off the top of my head. Oh yeah, and the goody goody knight's not so secret admirer is incredibly cunning. 

Evvie likely has fought some sort of wip-like weapon before (her reactions are fast but if she knew what was coming it helps her dodge even faster), she just doesn't plan that far ahead and needed to block it right then so she couldn't think of anything else, plus she believes she can hold the attack back and destroy it anyways.

EDIT: Oh yeah, with her turning her torso it probably would cause pain from her wound. Don't want to edit my post so we can just assume she's feeling a bit of a burn right now, of course the adrenaline blocking a lot of it out though.