Lady Trailblazers look strong in bounce back win over Indiana Tech JV

VINCENNES, Ind. – The Vincennes University Lady Trailblazers opened the 2021 VU Classic with a strong victory on the home floor. Winning 91-24 over Indiana Tech JV.

Vincennes finished with five scorers in double-figures, including four from the starting five.

The Lady Trailblazers looked to set the tone early after falling on the road to Lindsey Wilson JV earlier this week and jumped out to a 16-2 lead to begin the game.

Vincennes would continue to hold this big lead, leading 22-7 after the first 10 minutes of play.

VU continued to ride this momentum into the second quarter, opening the period on an 18-1 scoring run to build their biggest lead of the half at 40-8.

Indiana Tech JV would only manage one field goal in the second quarter as VU went into the locker room holding a commanding 40-10 advantage.

The Vincennes offense really began to open up in the third quarter as the Lady Trailblazers scored 29 points in the 10 minute period, to take a 69-19 lead heading into the fourth quarter.

Vincennes emptied the benches in the fourth quarter, getting all 12 players in the game.

VU outscored the Warriors 51-14 in the second half as Vincennes cruised to a strong 91-24 win over Indiana Tech JV.

"I thought we played hard," VU Hall of Fame Head Coach Harry Meeks said. "That's something that I was very disappointed in when we played Lindsey Wilson. We didn't have a lot of spirit or get-up-and-go and I thought we had that and maintained that all night long."

"I thought Laila played really hard," Meeks added. "Day'Lynn came off the bench and every second she is on the floor she is wide open. She leads by example and I was very pleased with how she played. I thought the entire group lifted their level of play and made it very difficult for Indiana Tech to score. We kept running the floor and that's the way we need to play. I thought we did a good job of running our offense and we were able to make some shots."

Vincennes finished with five players scoring in double-figures, led by freshman Trinitee Harris (Elkhart, Ind.) who finished with 16 points, a team-high seven assists, five rebounds and five steals.

Sophomore Laila Grant (Derwood, Md.) also finished the game with 16 points, while also adding four assists.

Sophomore Nina Blade (Milwaukee, Wis.) ended her night with 13 points and a team-high seven rebounds.

Freshman Day'Lynn Thornton (Lafayette, Ind.) came off the bench to score 11 points for the Blazers, to go along with swiping four steals.

Freshman Cherrelle Newsom (Indianapolis, Ind.) was the fifth VU scorer in double-figures, ending with 10 points and a pair of assists.

"I think this can be a really deep team," Meeks said. "We're moving kids around and making sure everybody get in the game and gets some game experience. Cristina Requejo (Gijon, Spain) came in and did a really good job for us. She's very active, a good defensive player, can score. I was pleased that we got some time to get her in the game. She missed some practice time earlier this season, so she's now rounding into playing shape now so I'm looking forward to playing her more in the future."

The Lady Trailblazer defense was stifling all night, forcing Indiana Tech JV to commit 38 turnovers, 24 resulting in steals.

"I just like the way we stayed after it defensively," Meeks added. "We worked all of yesterday in practice on man-to-man defense and helping and all the things you do to make yourself a good basketball team defensively. It was nice to see us put that into motion in the game. We'll keep working on that, we've got to work on blocking out and I think we will get to being a pretty good basketball team down the road."

Vincennes will return to the P.E. Complex Saturday, Nov. 20 for the final day of the VU Classic when the Lady Trailblazers play host to Highland Community College from Freeport, Ill. Tip-off time is set for 5 p.m. eastern.

"We're going to have to have the same effort," Meeks said. "We can't drop down a notch, we're going to have to have the same effort and carry that effort from here on to the end of the season. I know that is going to be difficult to do, but we've dug ourselves a hole. We want to play in the National Tournament and right now it looks like the only way we're going to get to do that is by winning the District Championship. I think it would be very difficult for us to receive an at-large bid, especially after losing to Lindsey Wilson."

VINCENNES BOX SCORE

VINCENNES (91): Nina Blade 5-10 3-6 13, Macy Michels 3-10 0-1 6, Trinitee Harris 8-9 0-0 16, Cherrelle Newsom 4-6 0-0 10, Laila Grant 6-10 0-0 16, Day'Lynn Thornton 3-5 5-8 11, Candela Lascorz 2-5 0-0 4, Elena Aznar 3-8 0-0 6, Guadalupe Lopez 1-3 0-0 2, Kylee Shelton 2-4 1-2 5, Cristina Requejo 0-1 0-0 0, Anete Bluma 1-3 0-0 2, Team 38-74 9-17 91.

Indiana Tech JV – 7  3  9  5 – 24

Vincennes (4-3) – 22  18  29  22 – 91

Three-point goals: VU 6 (Grant 4, Newsom 2). Rebounds: VU 36 (Michels 7, Blade 7). Assists: VU 25 (Harris 7). Steals: VU 24 (Aznar 6). Blocked shots: VU 4 (Lopez 2). Turnovers: VU 11. Personal Fouls: VU 16. Fouled out: None.