Lady Trailblazers win over Kaskaskia in second-half comeback

CENTRALIA, Ill. – The Vincennes University Lady Trailblazers traveled to Centralia, Ill. Wednesday night to face off against the Blue Angels of Kaskaskia College for the second time in just nine days.

Vincennes fell behind early but battled back after falling behind by eight points to take the lead late in the third quarter and win 78-67 over Kaskaskia.

Vincennes held a small lead midway through the first quarter, before Kaskaskia used a 6-0 scoring run to take a five point lead.

The Lady Blazers would rally back to close the margin to just a single point to end the first quarter trailing 19-18.

The Blue Angels really took control of the game in the second quarter, gaining their largest lead of the game at 34-26.

VU could only manage to cut the deficit by a basket as the Lady Trailblazers went into the halftime break down by six points 38-32.

The Vincennes defense took control in the third quarter, as the Lady Blazers posted their second straight game of allowing less than 10 points in the third period after only surrendering five points to Olney Central Saturday night.

VU rallied back by outscoring the Blue Angels 17-7 in the third quarter as Vincennes held a 49-45 lead heading into the final 10 minutes of play.

Kaskaskia opened the fourth quarter on a 5-0 run to take the lead back early in the fourth, but Vincennes would respond back again as VU would close out the game on a 9-2 scoring run to finish off the 78-67 win over the Blue Angels.

"In the first half I didn't think we played very well," VU Hall of Fame Head Coach Harry Meeks said. "I didn't think anybody played well and they jumped on us and we didn't respond. We were lucky to only be down six at the half."

"The second half we came out and played with a little more juice," Meeks added. "All of the kids that we put in there in the second half did a much better job. Nina really helped us off the bench. Cherrelle made some big shots for us at the end of the game and I thought Laila had two big shots on drives to the basket."

"It wasn't an easy game and I knew coming over here, with him having his whole team, I knew it wasn't going to be easy. It's always difficult to play here."

VU was led offensively by freshman Cherrelle Newsom (Indianapolis, Ind.) who hit five three-pointers for the second straight game, finishing with 21 points, four assists and three rebounds.

Freshman DayLynn Thornton (Lafayette, Ind.) ended her night with 14 points, while also dishing out a team-high five assists. Thornton would also add four rebounds and a pair of steals to her linescore.

Sophomore Laila Grant (Derwood, Md.) ended her night with 10 points, with two rebounds, two assists and two steals.

Sophomore Nina Blade (Milwaukee, Wis.) came off the bench to reach double figures, ending her night with 11 points, including eight points in the third quarter, while also grabbing a team-high six rebounds.

"We had to have scoring from those four people," Meeks said of his double-figure scorers. "Nina is working herself back into the lineup and is doing a really good job of rebounding and making shots and free throws."

"DayLynn just plays hard," Meeks added. "She plays with so much heart. She just lays it out there every game. She got off to a shaky start, but it wasn't because she wasn't playing hard. Things started to fall for her. She made a big three in the corner and her ball-handling was exceptional. I'm really pleased with her play and I'm glad she's on my team."

The Lady Trailblazers will again hit the road this weekend when they travel to Robinson, Ill. to take on the Lady Statesmen of Lincoln Trail College, Saturday, Jan. 29. Tip-off time for that game is set for 2 p.m. eastern.

VU defeated Lincoln Trail 76-68 in the P.E. Complex on Dec. 1 in the first game of Vincennes' Region 24 schedule.

"I hope my team sees that tonight we weren't really ready to play," Meeks said. "I thought we had to get about a quarter into the game to get ourselves motivated to play. We can't go to Robinson and not be motivated Saturday."

"Lincoln Trail has got a good team," Meeks added. "They are well coached and we are going to have to play really hard, take care of the basketball and not foul. I think some of our fouls come because we play so aggressively. I don't want the aggression to go away, but I would sure like to get rid of some of those fouls."

VINCENNES BOX SCORE

VINCENNES (78): DayLynn Thornton 5-14 3-3 14, Cherrelle Newsom 7-17 2-2 21, Elena Aznar 2-3 0-0 4, Macy Michels 3-6 0-0 6, Laila Grant 5-11 0-0 10, Trinitee Harris 2-3 1-2 6, Chanice Willis 3-6 0-0 6, Nina Blade 3-4 5-5 11, Candela Lascorz 0-0 0-0 0, Guadalupe Lopez 0-1 0-0 0, Anete Bluma 0-2 0-0 0, Team 30-67 11-12 78.

VU (14-7, 7-2) – 18  14  17  29 – 78

Kaskaskia – 19  19  7  22 – 67

Three-point goals: VU 7 (Newsom 5, Thornton, Harris). Rebounds: VU 32 (Blade 6). Assists: VU 18 (Thornton 5). Steals: VU 12 (Thornton 2, Michels 2, Grant 2). Blocked shots: VU 7 (Michels 4). Turnovers: VU 24. Personal Fouls: VU 19. Fouled out: None.