Lady Blazers unable to overcome early turnovers at Three Rivers

POPLAR BLUFF, Mo. – The Vincennes University Lady Trailblazers hit the road Tuesday night looking to get revenge on Three Rivers College but came up just short with the Blazers falling 78-70.

The VU Lady Blazers got off to a slow start Tuesday night, trailing the host Raiders by 10 points after the first 10 minutes of play.

The Raiders grabbed their largest lead of the half at 12 to start the second quarter, before the Blazers rallied back late to even the game with an 8-0 scoring run.

Three Rivers would score the final basket of the first half and head into the locker room leading VU 34-31.

Vincennes came out of the locker room looking to carry some of their momentum over to the final 20 minutes of play and VU quickly grabbed their first lead of the game with another 8-0 scoring run early in the third.

Three Rivers would take the lead back before the Lady Blazers closed out the third quarter on their third 8-0 scoring run of the game to lead 59-56 heading into the fourth quarter.

Vincennes scored on the opening possession of the fourth quarter to extend their scoring run to 10-0 but the Raiders came battling back with an 11-0 scoring run to take the lead and the momentum back.

VU tried to answer back but a late 8-0 run by Three Rivers sealed the game as Vincennes fell by the final score of 78-70.

VU was led offensively by the outside shooting of sophomore guard Cherrelle Newsom (Indianapolis, Ind.) who connected on six three-point tries on her way to 18 points, four rebounds and four assists.

Freshman Maycee Lange (Vincennes, Ind.) just missed a double-double, matching Newsom with 18 points, nine rebounds, and a team-high five assists and three steals.

Freshman Najra Voloder (Konjic, Bosnia) came off the bench to add nine points and three rebounds on the low block, while sophomore Kennadi Harris (Columbus, Ohio) and freshman Katrina Litte (Valmiera, Latvia) added seven points off the bench.

Sophomore Daylynn Thornton (Lafayette, Ind.) played tough all night defensively, matching Lange with a team-high three steals, while also dishing out four assists.

The Lady Blazers will hit the road again this weekend when VU jumps back into Region 24 play Saturday, Dec. 3 when the Blazers travel to Olney, Ill. to face-off against Olney Central College. Tip-off time Saturday is set for 1 p.m. eastern.

VINCENNES BOX SCORE

VINCENNES (70): Cherrelle Newsom 6-17 0-0 18, Daylynn Thornton 1-3 0-0 2, Brie Miller 0-0 0-0 0, Elikya Baseyila 2-3 1-1 5, Maycee Lange 5-10 6-6 18, Kennadi Harris 3-4 0-0 7, Chanice Willis 1-3 0-0 2, Nyre Williams 1-6 0-0 2, Katrina Litte 3-5 0-0 7, Ra'Mya Milton 0-0 0-0 0, Najra Voloder 4-5 1-2 9, Team 26-56 8-9 70.

VU (7-3, 1-0) – 11   20   28   11 – 70

Three Rivers – 21   13   22   22 – 78

Three-point goals: VU 10 (Newsom 6, Lange 2, Harris, Litte). Rebounds: VU 34 (Lange 9). Assists: VU 19 (Lange 5). Steals: VU 8 (Thornton 3, Lange 3). Blocked shots: VU 5 (Newsom, Baseyila, Willis, Litte, Voloder). Turnovers: VU 30. Personal Fouls: VU 18. Fouled out: None.