Thornton’s 22 points lead Lady Blazers to six straight win

VINCENNES, Ind. – The VU Lady Trailblazers extended their winning streak to six games after defeating Wayne County Community College from Detroit, Mich. Monday night at the P.E. Complex 69-63.

Vincennes closed out their third win in three consecutive days with the help of VU freshmen Day'Lynn Thornton (Lafayette, Ind.) and Cherrelle Newsom (Indianapolis, Ind.) as Thornton led the Lady Blazers with a game-high 22 points and Newsom came through in clutch situations to end with 15 points.

The Lady Trailblazers got off to a slow start in the first quarter, playing without two starters Trinitee Harris (Elkhart, Ind.) and Laila Grant (Derwood, Md.) who are serving two game suspensions after being ejected from yesterday's win over Lewis & Clark.

Vincennes would battle throughout the first period and managed to even the score at 13-all at the end of the first 10 minutes of play.

VU rode a 12-2 scoring run to take a four point lead early in the second quarter, before continuing to grow their largest lead of the half at 10 points and ending the first half with a 36-28 advantage.

The Lady Blazers kept adding to their lead early in the third quarter before the Wildcats answered back with an 8-0 scoring run to cut the deficit to seven points.

Wayne County continued to attack the basket and found easy layups late in the third period as the Wildcats entered the fourth quarter only trailing by three points.

Wayne County battled tough in the fourth quarter as it looked like VU was beginning to feel the effects of playing three games in three days.

The Wildcats quickly erased any lead Vincennes was able to build, coming within one point of match the Blazers late in the fourth.

Wayne County then found themselves in foul trouble and with only six players in uniform that meant the Wildcats had to finish the game with four players on the floor.

Vincennes closed out the game at the free throw line as VU finished off their six straight win 69-63.

"I thought the three games in three days started to ware on us in the second half," VU Hall of Fame Head Coach Harry Meeks said. "We weren't quite as quick to the ball. We didn't shoot the ball really well during the last 10 minutes and we had a 15 points lead and we let it gradually get melted away."

"I thought our young ladies did a good job of hanging on," Meeks added. "We were able to get to the free throw line and do the things you need to do to win close games. Wayne County is a formidable team. They execute well, they play hard and they are well-coached. I thought they were well-coached and a well-disciplined basketball team."

The Lady Blazers were led by Day'Lynn Thornton who finished with a career-high 22 points in her first start of the season, while also adding six rebounds and three assists on the night.

Cherrelle Newsom came through in clutch moments for Vincennes to finish with 15 points and a pair of steals.

Freshman Kylee Shelton (Bloomfield, Ind.) also got her first start of her collegiate career and led VU with 12 rebounds and four assists on the night. Shelton also added six points.

Freshman Candela Lascorz (Huesca, Spain) just missed a double-double off the bench, finishing her night with eight points and nine rebounds.

Sophomore Macy Michels (Teutopolis, Ill.) and Nina Blade (Milwaukee, Wi.) anchored the low post for the Lady Blazers, with Michels finishing with eight points and seven rebounds, including five offensive rebounds and Blade finished with seven points and seven rebounds on the night.

"We had some young ladies really step up and help us tonight," Meeks said. "I thought Candela did a really nice job, especially rebounding. She made some critical baskets for us and overall did a really good job."

"Day'Lynn Thornton came in and ran as the point guard and I thought she did a really good job," Meeks added. "It had been some time since she had last played point guard. She has strong ball-handling ability and she can score the ball. She's been more confident in her shooting and I can't tell you how much we appreciate her and the hard work she does for this team. She is not only a vocal leader, but she leads by example on the floor as well."

Vincennes will get some time to rest and recover before hosting No. 12-ranked Wabash Valley at the P.E. Complex, Saturday, Dec. 18 to close out the first half of the season. Tip-off time Saturday will be 5 p.m. eastern.

"I don't know, right now, how we are going to play Wabash Valley," Meeks said. "We're missing two valuable parts to our basketball team and that is really going to hurt our offense and our defense because those two (Harris and Grant) are a big part of our team."

"We just have to deal with it one day at a time," Meeks added. "We might change some strategy with our point guard and our three not being able to play. There will be some changes made and maybe a little change in our style of play Saturday."

VINCENNES BOX SCORE

VINCENNES (69): Nina Blade 2-5 3-3 7, Macy Michels 3-8 2-4 8, Day'Lynn Thornton 7-15 5-6 22, Cherrelle Newsom 5-11 2-2 15, Kylee Shelton 1-8 1-5 3-4 6, Chanice Willis 0-4 0-0 0, Candela Lascorz 4-8 0-0 8, Elena Aznar 0-2 0-0 0, Guadalupe Lopez 1-1 0-0 2, Anete Bluma 0-1 1-2 1, Team 23-63 16-21 69.

Wayne County – 13  15  22  13 – 63

VU (11-4, 4-0) – 13  23  17  16 – 69

Three-point goals: VU 7 (Thornton 3, Newsom 3, Shelton). Rebounds: VU 47 (Shelton 12). Assists: VU 12 (Shelton 4). Steals: VU 9 (Blade 2, Newsom 2, Aznar 2). Blocked shots: VU 2 (Lopez 2). Turnovers: VU 23. Personal Fouls: VU 16. Fouled out: None.