Strong defensive second half propels Lady Blazers to road win at Rend Lake

INA, Ill. – The Vincennes University Lady Trailblazers found themselves in a deadlocked battle at Rend Lake College Saturday afternoon with the score tied at 30-30 at the halftime.

VU would come out of the locker room with a new defensive plan of attack and it worked to perfection as the Lady Blazers would outscore the Lady Warriors 48-20 in the second half to come away with the 78-50 victory.

The first quarter began with the two teams trading baskets before the Lady Trailblazers were the first to break away with a 7-0 scoring run and end the first 10 minutes of play holding a 22-15 lead.

VU would continue to grow their lead to 10 early in the second quarter before the Lady Warriors responded back with a 12-0 run on four straight made three's to give Rend Lake a 30-28 lead.

Vincennes would get the final basket of the first half to even the score going into the break tied 30-30 with Rend Lake.

The Lady Trailblazers came out of the locker room break with a new strategy, switching to a man-to-man defense and focusing on taking advantage of a big size advantage in the low block.

VU started the second half with a massive 17-0 scoring run and would use an 8-0 scoring run later in the third quarter to help the Lady Blazers build a 62-37 lead heading into the fourth.

Rend Lake looked to mount a fourth quarter comeback, but were unable to cut into the large VU lead as Vincennes came away with the 78-50 road Region 24 victory.

"I thought we got off to a decent start today," VU Hall of Fame Head Coach Harry Meeks said. "We were making some shots early and then all of a sudden we weren't making anything. We had wide open shots in the second quarter, shots that we generally make. We just quit scoring and they came back and it was tied at the half."

"We tried to run a zone against them and they broke free for a couple of threes," Meeks added. "We didn't really get out on the shooters. Maybe we need to go back and work on our zone defense this next week to try to get some of that straightened back out again."

"We went back to playing man-to-man in the second half," Meeks said. "Once we did that, we really played some good basketball. We forced them to turn the ball over several times, got some breakaway layups and that is always good for our team. We seem to like to run the ball up the floor, force the ball to the basket and see if we can get a quick layup and we were able to do that in the second half."

"I thought we played really good man-to-man defense for a long stretch of the third quarter," Meeks added. "We made some shots. We got things going our way and we were able to come away with a nice road win."

VU was led offensively by freshman Elikya Baseyila (Paris, France) who set a new career-high with 24 points and completed her 11th double-double of the season with 17 rebounds. Baseyila was also active defensively, ending with three steals.

Freshman Brie Miller (Greencastle, Ind.) also took advantage of the size difference in the low block, setting a new career-high with 14 points and nearly completing the double-double with eight rebounds. Miller would also dish out four assists and lead the Blazers with four steals.

Sophomore Cherrelle Newsom (Indianapolis, Ind.) found some open space outside in the second half, connecting on three second half threes on her way to 14 points and four assists.

Sophomores Chanice Willis (Champaign, Ill.) came off the bench to add 11 points and three assists.

Sophomore Daylynn Thornton (Lafayette, Ind.) played tough all game to finish with seven points, a team-high five assists and four rebounds.

Freshman Maycee Lange (Vincennes, Ind.) finished with six points, eight rebounds and an outstanding four blocks, while fellow freshman Ra'Mya Milton (Brownsburg, Ind.) made some very timely hustle plays to finish with five rebounds and a pair of assists.

"We were able to force the action at the basket," Meeks said. "I just kept calling Elikya's number and kept trying to force it inside. She's able to post up down there and really had a super game. I am really proud of her and even more proud of all of the rebounds. She controlled the glass pretty much the entire second half and made the easy layups."

"Cherrelle got her game going a little bit in the second half," Meeks added. "She made some threes. Her defense was really good. She was a major contributor when we were able to run the offense. She also had four assists, which came at a really key time for us in the second half."

The Lady Trailblazers will return home for the final time this season next week when VU celebrates sophomore night at the Physical Education Complex.

Vincennes will host Southwestern Illinois College Wednesday, Feb. 22 in the P.E. Complex. Tip-off time is 5 p.m. eastern.

VU defeated the Lady Blue Storm 67-56 earlier this season in Belleville behind 17 points by Cherrelle Newsom and 14 points by Chanice Willis.

"I told the team after the game that we can't come out and have a really bad quarter anymore," Meeks said. "We are going to have to play more consistent basketball and I think they understand that. When things like the second quarter today happen, you really have to tighten down your defense and try to eliminate some of the points by the other team."

"I think we came out in the second half and did a really good job of controlling the ball," Meeks added. "We controlled the game, ran the floor and really played some tough, hard-nosed defense. That's what we are going to have to takeaway from this game. We are a good team. But we can't just walk on the floor and expect the other team to roll over. Rend Lake has a nice team. They are well coached and they are going to give you everything they have. We are going to have to learn how to play more consistently from one quarter to the next."

VINCENNES BOX SCORE

VINCENNES (78): Cherrelle Newsom 5-15 0-0 14, Daylynn Thornton 2-7 3-4 7, Brie Miller 6-12 2-4 14, Elikya Baseyila 11-14 2-3 24, Maycee Lange 3-13 0-0 6, Kennadi Harris 1-8 0-0 2, Chanice Willis 5-15 0-0 11, Ra'Mya Milton 0-1 0-0 0, Team 33-85 7-11 78.

VU (19-8, 12-2) – 22   8   32   16 – 78

Rend Lake – 15   15   7   13 – 50

Three-point goals: VU 5 (Newsom 4, Willis). Rebounds: VU 47 (Baseyila 17). Assists: VU 22 (Thornton 5). Steals: VU 14 (Miller 4). Blocked Shots: VU 6 (Lange 4). Turnovers: VU 12. Personal Fouls: VU 14. Fouled out: None.