HILLSBORO, Mo. – The Vincennes University Lady Trailblazers hit the road to begin the week, heading to Hillsboro, Mo. to take on Jefferson College in the first game of a home and home series with the Lady Vikings this season.
The Lady Blazers got off to a slow start Wednesday night, with the Lady Vikings scoring 12 of the first 14 points and held a 16-4 lead over the Blazers.
Vincennes looked to answer back before the end of the first quarter, closing out the period with a 7-0 scoring run including back-to-back steals and baskets by sophomore Brie Miller (Bainbridge, Ind.) to cut the deficit to 19-16 after the first 10 minutes of play.
VU would continue to ride this momentum into the second quarter, cutting the Jefferson lead down to a single point at 24-23 before the Lady Vikings ended the first half of action on a 14-2 scoring run.
Vincennes headed into the locker room trailing the host Lady Vikings 38-25 at the break.
Jefferson looked to be in firm control of the game early in the second half, opening the third quarter on an 11-3 scoring run to take a 49-28 lead, their largest lead of the night.
The Lady Blazers began to slowly chip away at the JeffCo lead, using a 16-4 scoring run to cut the lead back to single digits before the Vikings scored the final bucket of the quarter to head into the fourth leading VU 55-44.
The two teams traded baskets to begin the fourth quarter, before Jefferson expanded the lead again with six unanswered and were able to hold on to pick up the 71-58 victory over the Lady Blazers.
Vincennes was led offensively by freshman Karina Scott (Noblesville, Ind.) who finished with 17 points, including hitting four three-pointers on the night and dishing out a pair of assists.
Sophomore Brie Miller picked up 10 points on the game, including a team-high four steals, two rebounds and two assists.
Sophomore Najra Voloder (Konjic, Bosnia) came off the bench to score in double-figures, scoring 10 points and grabbing six rebounds, her first game in double-figures this season.
VU also got seven points off the bench by freshman Makyla Tucker (Indianapolis, Ind.) and six points and four rebounds from freshman Taylor Guess (Indianapolis, Ind.).
Sophomore Katrina Litte (Valmiera, Latvia) ended her night with five points, a team-high seven assists and three rebounds.
The Lady Trailblazers will again look to bounce back when VU returns home to take on NJCAA Division II No. 3-ranked Parkland College Saturday, Dec. 9 at 7 p.m. eastern.
VINCENNES BOX SCORE
VINCENNES (58): Karina Scott 6-21 1-1 17, Katrina Litte 2-4 0-2 5, Taylor Guess 1-8 4-4 6, Brie Miller 5-13 0-0 10, Elikya Baseyila 1-3 0-0 2, Makyla Tucker 3-7 0-0 7, Najra Voloder 4-4 2-2 10, Johnai Wimbleduff 0-2 1-2 1, Team 22-62 8-11 58.
VU (3-7) – 16 9 19 14 – 58
Jefferson – 19 19 17 16 – 71
Three-point goals: VU 6 (Scott 4, Litte, Tucker). Rebounds: VU 25 (Baseyila 8). Assists: VU 17 (Litte 7). Steals: VU 12 (Miller 4). Blocked shots: VU 4 (Baseyila 2). Turnovers: VU 21. Personal Fouls: VU 21. Fouled out: Guess. Technical Fouls: VU – Wimbleduff (2 – 28.8).