Quick start and Blade double-double lead Lady Blazers to wire-to-wire Region 24 win

ULLIN, Ill. – The Vincennes University Lady Trailblazers picked up their fourth win away from the P.E. Complex Wednesday night when VU defeated Shawnee Community College 63-48.

VU sophomore Nina Blade (Milwaukee, Wis.) finished with her first double-double on the season, ending with 12 points and a team-high 11 rebounds.

The Lady Blazers got off to a hot start, opening the contest with a 12-0 scoring run. Shawnee would battle the rest of the first quarter as Vincennes held a 20-11 advantage after the first quarter.

The Lady Saints continued to battle in the second quarter, cutting the deficit to just five points before Vincennes would answer and grow their lead back late to take a 36-24 lead into the locker room at the break.

Sophomore Laila Grant (Derwood, Md.) led the Blazers early, scoring 14 points in the first half, including hitting a pair from behind the arc.

The third quarter was a back-and-forth defensive battle with the two teams combining for 17 points in the 10 minute period.

Vincennes held a 13-point lead heading into the final quarter of play.

The scoring picked up in the fourth quarter as Shawnee battled to keep the game close but could not cut the deficit to under 10 points.

Freshman Kylee Shelton (Bloomfield, Ind.) came off the bench to help close out the game for the Blue and Gold, scoring all 10 of her points in the fourth quarter.

Vincennes closed out the game strong and finished off the Lady Saints 63-48 with the Lady Trailblazers never trailing in the game.

"We were a little bit spotty tonight. Shawnee's guard gave us problems all night and that was a point of emphasis for us in the second half," VU Hall of Fame Head Coach Harry Meeks said. "She could shoot the ball, she could hit free throws and I think we gave her too much room. We had a couple of girls that came in and did a good job against her defensively and I think that wore her out in the second half."

"I thought our girls played hard," Meeks added. "We knew it would be tough playing down here and Shawnee has a good basketball team. They are well coached and they made it tough on us. We held in there, Kylee made some big shots for us late, we made some free throws and the Trailblazers were able to come away with the win. I'm really pleased with the way we played and I'm pleased with their effort."

Laila Grant finished with a team-high 15 points, while also swiping a team-high three steals on the night and grabbing seven rebounds.

Nina Blade ended her night with a double-double with 12 points and 11 rebounds while also adding three steals.

Kylee Shelton was the third Lady Blazer to reach double-figures with 10 points, all in the fourth quarter on seven shots.

Freshman Trinitee Harris (Elkhart, Ind.) finished with nine points, eight rebounds and five assists on the night.

Sophomore Macy Michels (Teutopolis, Ill.) controlled the paint for Vincennes both offensively and defensively, ending with eight points, seven rebounds and an outstanding six blocks on the game.

"I thought Trinitee, again, did a really good job with her quickness and ability to handle the basketball. That showed up big for us in the second half," Meeks said. "I thought Laila did a really good job of handling the ball and getting other people involved in the second half. At the end of the game, we had some shooters in there that made open shots that broke the game open. I'm pleased with all our players, they did an outstanding job for us."

Vincennes will face a tough weekend ahead as the Lady Blazers first host John A. Logan College, Saturday, Dec. 4 at the P.E. Complex at 5 p.m.

VU will then travel to St. Louis, Mo. to take part in the St. Louis CC Classic Sunday, Dec. 12 against Lewis & Clark. Tip-off Sunday will be 12 p.m. eastern.

Vincennes will then return home Monday, Dec. 13 for their third game in as many days to host Wayne County Community College. Tip-off Monday will be 5 p.m. eastern.

"We will get ourselves ready for this weekend," Meeks said. "We have Logan coming in. They are a really good basketball team. They have one of the top scorers in the country, so we're going to have to be ready for them."

"We're going to have to play good defensively and be able to run our system offensively," Meeks added. "I thought we did a pretty good job of running our offense today. We got the shots that we wanted, just sometimes we didn't make them. We've got to keep working on that. We're pleased with where we are and we hope to keep working and getting better."

VINCENNES BOX SCORE

VINCENNES (63): Trinitee Harris 2-10 5-6 9, Cherrelle Newsom 2-7 0-0 5, Nina Blade 4-10 4-6 12, Macy Michels 4-11 0-0 8, Laila Grant 6-14 1-2 15, Chanice Willis 1-2 2-2 4, Day'Lynn Thornton 0-3 0-0 0, Candela Lascorz 0-0 0-0 0, Kylee Shelton 4-7 0-0 10, Team 23-64 12-16 63.

Shawnee – 11 13  8  16 – 48

VU (8-4, 3-0) – 20  16  9  18 – 63

Three-point goals: VU 5 (Grant 2, Shelton 2, Newsom). Rebounds: VU 44 (Blade 11). Assists: VU 15 (Harris 5). Steals: VU 11 (Blade 3, Grant 3, Willis 3). Blocked Shots: VU 6 (Michels 6). Turnovers: VU 15. Personal Fouls: VU 14. Fouled out: None.