Lady Blazers defense forces 32 turnovers in win over Shawnee

VINCENNES, Ind. – The Vincennes University Lady Trailblazers hosted the Shawnee Saints in a makeup game from earlier this season Monday night.

VU was fresh off their win over Lincoln Trail that gave Hall of Fame head coach Harry Meeks his 700th career win as leader of the Lady Blazers and continued their winnings ways with a 67-60 win over Shawnee.

Early on, one could see that this was going to be a defensive showcase. With the two squads playing physical, hard-nosed defense that forced a lot of difficult shots and plenty of turnovers.

VU took the lead in the first quarter, leading by five after the first 10-minute period, and continued to grow their lead. Leading 42-31 at the halftime break.

The Trailblazer offense was sparked in the first half by a perfect three of three outing from sophomore Amani Brown from behind the arc. Brown led the Blazers at halftime with 11 points.

The Vincennes defense also showed out in the first half as well. Culminating in 23 Shawnee turnovers, eight of which VU turned into steals and easy shot attempts.

Vincennes continued to build their lead in the third quarter, reaching a game-high 19 points advantage near the end of the third period.

Shawnee would respond in the fourth quarter as the Saints increased their defensive intensity to narrow the margin and only allow VU to score six points in the final 10 minutes of play.

The Vincennes defense held strong late in the fourth quarter however, ending the Shawnee comeback attempt as the Trailblazers came away with their 10th win of the season.

"We had a plan to begin with, then that lost it's 'get up and go' and I had to play some defenses I didn't necessarily want to play against Shawnee," head coach Harry Meeks said. "I thought we did a really bad job blocking out, Shawnee almost doubled us in rebounds and we just didn't make contact and come down and rebound and the rebounds column in the box score shows that."

"That was a big jolt to us, to lose the rebounding battle that bad. We were spotty with our offense. Shawnee knew exactly what we were trying to do and they did a really good job of taking us out of that. We just have to go back to work and try to pull it back together here. I know we won, but it almost feels like a loss because we didn't execute like we should have. I know our game with them this coming Saturday is going to be a tough one, because I know they play really good on their floor."

"Shawnee was coming on at the end, I just felt like our girls were just waiting for the bell to ring to end the game. We've got a lot of work to do and it's very unfortunate that we don't have a whole lot of time to practice this week. I think a little of our inexperience showed tonight. We tried to change offenses on the fly and ended up turning the ball over several times. A wins a win. The girls did what was required for us to win, so you can't fault them too much."

VU was led offensively by Amani Brown, who would finish the game with 13 points, four rebounds, three assists and three steals.

Freshman Trinitee Harris and sophomore Nina Blade would reach double-digits in the points column off the bench for the Blazers, each scoring 10 points.

Harris would also add a team-high five steals, four rebounds and three assists to her line, while Blade added three rebounds.

The Vincennes bench of Harris, Blade, Noni Russell and Enija Brown-Griffin combined to score 33 of VU's 67 points on the night.

"That group has been practicing really hard and they have been wanting to get more time on the floor and they certainly did a good job tonight," Meeks said of his bench play. "Trinitee Harris came in and did a really good job for us. Enija did a good job rebounding and played her heart out. Nina Blade did a good job for us rebounding, running the floor and blocking some shots on defense. Noni did a good job for us handling the ball, running the ball up and down the floor and was a defensive presence. All those young ladies off the bench, every one of them I thought played their hearts out."

The Lady Blazers will now have a quick turnaround before hitting the road Wednesday, March 17 when VU takes on John A. Logan in Carterville, Ill. Tip-off is set for 6 p.m. eastern.

"We have got to play better together," Meeks added. "We've got to run our offense a little better and take care of the basketball. We had too many turnovers (23) and not enough rebounds (31). Blocking out, blocking out, blocking out. If we don't block out a little better we're not going to win many more games. The Region has gotten better and all of them are playing extremely hard, so wins are difficult to come by at this time of the year. Everybody is trying to position themselves for the District tournament and that makes it even tougher because there is a lot on the line."