Lady Blazers late comeback comes up just short at John A. Logan

CARTERVILLE, Ill. – The Vincennes University Lady Trailblazers were on the road again Saturday afternoon for a tough Region 24 road matchup against the Lady Volunteers of John A. Logan College.

The Lady Blazers played from behind for most of the game and looked to be building momentum with a late comeback in the fourth quarter, but just ran out of time as VU fell to the Lady Vols 76-73.

The Lady Blazers got off to a great start Saturday afternoon, riding an early 7-0 scoring run to take an 11-8 lead over the Lady Vols.

VU would hold this lead for most of the first quarter before John A. Logan closed out the opening period of play with seven straight points to take a 20-14 lead into the second quarter.

The two teams traded small scoring runs to open the second quarter of action with VU's offense having a hard time finding the bottom of the net as the Lady Blazers headed into the locker room break trailing John A. Logan 37-24.

John A. Logan looked to put the game away early in the second half, building their largest lead of the night at 48-28 before the Lady Blazers gained some momentum with eight straight to cut the Logan lead to 12.

The Lady Vols would hold off the VU comeback in the third quarter, getting their lead back to 16 and taking a 61-45 lead into the fourth quarter.

John A. Logan continued to add to their lead early in the fourth quarter and built a 70-51 advantage but the Lady Blazers refused to go away quietly.

Vincennes continued to battle and ramped up the defensive pressure to ride a 22-4 run to get back within one.

John A. Logan would hit a pair of free throws to put the Lady Vols up by three in the final seconds, with VU getting one last attempt to send the game to overtime but were unable to convert as VU unfortunately just ran out of time to complete their late comeback, falling to the Lady Vols 76-73.

The Lady Blazers were led offensively by sophomore Marta Gutierrez (Alicante, Spain) who was close to completing a triple double with 20 points, eight rebounds and a team-high eight assists.

Freshman Delora Pricop (Satu Mare, Romania) also matched Gutierrez with 20 points in Saturday's game, while also grabbing nine rebounds for the Lady Blazers.

Freshman Ahmya Thomas (Phoenix, Ariz.) was the third VU scorer in double figures, finishing her day with 16 points, four assists and three steals.

Freshman Jazmyn Robey (Sellersburg, Ind.) came away with nine points, eight rebounds and four assists in the game.

The Lady Trailblazers will look to bounce back and get back in the win column when VU returns home to the Physical Education Complex Wednesday, Feb. 5 as VU hosts Lincoln Trail College at 5 p.m. eastern on Community Schools Night at VU.

VINCENNES BOX SCORE

VINCENNES (73): Ahmya Thomas 6-13 4-4 16, Jazmyn Robey 4-9 0-2 9, Marta Gutierrez 5-10 8-10 20, Emani Washington 0-0 0-0 0, Delora Pricop 9-15 2-4 20, Yanni Huggins 1-6 0-0 2, Netala Dixon 2-13 1-2 6, Team 27-66 15-22 73.

John A. Logan – 20   17   24   15 – 76

VU (10-13 5-3) – 14   10   21   28 – 73

Three-point goals: VU 4 (Gutierrez 2, Robey, Dixon). Rebounds: VU 40 (Pricop 9, Huggins 9). Assists: VU 22 (Gutierrez 8). Steals: VU 13 (Gutierrez 4). Blocked Shots: VU 4 (Robey 2, Pricop 2). Turnovers: VU 23. Personal Fouls: VU 24. Fouled out: Thomas, Robey.