Michels records double-double as Lady Blazers win Region 24 battle over SWIC

VINCENNES, Ind. – Nine days after VU played their last game the Lady Trailblazers battled tough at home to fend off the Lady Blue Storm of Southwestern Illinois College 76-59.

Sophomore Macy Michels (Teutopolis, Ill.) recorded her sixth double-double of the season and her second consecutive double-double with 12 points and 13 rebounds in the Blazers win.

VU started out of the gate slow after more than a week between games, as SWIC quickly built a 9-2 lead in the first quarter.

The Lady Blazers would rally back and finish out the opening period on an 11-2 scoring run to take a 13-11 lead after the first 10 minutes of play.

Vincennes continued to build their lead at 16-11, their largest lead of the half, before Southwestern Illinois bounced back to even the score at 21-21.

The Lady Blue Storm would recapture the lead at 26-25 late in the second quarter before Vincennes closed out the first half with a 7-2 scoring run to lead 32-28 at the break.

VU grew their lead to double digits in the second half, holding a 45-31 lead midway through the third quarter.

Southwestern Illinois cut the deficit back to single digits, but the Lady Blazers still led by seven points heading into the final 10 minutes of play.

The Lady Blazers completely took control of the game early in the fourth quarter, building their lead back to double-digits before taking their largest lead of the game at 70-50 midway through the period.

Vincennes kept their foot on the gas to finish the game, coming away with the 76-59 win over Southwestern Illinois.

"We got off to a really sluggish start," VU Hall of Fame Head Coach Harry Meeks said. "We couldn't get the ball in the basket. We had numerous good looking shots and we jammed three of them under the rim and shot close to five or six over the rim."

"I could tell early that our girls weren't really into the game," Meeks added. "We had to keep coaching them to get a little more fire and to play with more of a sense of urgency. I just didn't think we played well in the first half. Our shooting percentage was awful. We shot less than 10-percent from three. We're doing some things that we haven't done before but we are still coming out on the winning side."

"I thought we played much better in the second half. We got our defense going a little bit and got some steals, which led to some easy baskets. We kept running up and down the floor. We scored on some fast breaks and then we started making some shots. A win is a win and we're just going to have to keep working at it and learn from our mistakes."

VU was led offensively by freshman DayLynn Thornton (Lafayette, Ind.) and sophomore Laila Grant (Derwood, Md.) who finished with 17 points each.

Thornton was also had a strong game on the defensive end of the floor, finishing with a career-high six steals on the night.

Grant ended her night with four rebounds, three assists and a pair of steals.

Sophomore Macy Michels ended with her sixth double-double of the season, with 12 points and 13 rebounds, while also leading the Blazers with a pair of blocks.

Sophomore Nina Blade (Milwaukee, Wis.) came off the bench to score in double figures for the eighth time this season, ending with 12 points and five rebounds.

Freshman Cherrelle Newsom (Indianapolis, Ind.) hit a pair of three's in the third quarter that helped VU build their lead on her way to six points and a team-high six assists on the night.

"The main thing with the group that played the majority of the second half was we started running our offense and we got some defensive stops," Meeks said. "Laila came in in the second half and showed us what she can do offensively. Cherrelle made a couple of threes. We just played a whole lot better in the second half than we did the first."

"I thought that Nina did a really good job for us," Meeks added. "We played her a majority of the game and she did a really good job of rebounding and scoring points for us. She did a good job of making a basket when we really needed one."

The Lady Trailblazers will be on the road Wednesday, Feb. 9, when VU travels to Carterville, Ill. to take on John A. Logan College. Tip-off time for that game will be 6 p.m. eastern.

Vincennes defeated the Lady Vols 77-67 in overtime at the P.E. Complex in December, in a game that saw Newsom and Grant combine for 48 points.

"We can't go to Logan and start the game like we did here tonight," Meeks said. "We will be down big and forced to play uphill the entire game. We are going to have to come out with a little bit of fire and have the ability to execute our offense and our defense if we're going to have a chance to win."

"John A. Logan has a really good team that has had some bad luck throughout this season," Meeks added. "They've lost some close games but they are a very good basketball team. We're going to have to cut down on some of our mistakes, some of our fouls and shoot a little better from the floor. We have to learn how to handle different defenses better than what we do right now."

VINCENNES BOX SCORE

VINCENNES (76) – Elena Aznar 0-4 0-0 0, Macy Michels 4-9 4-6 12, DayLynn Thornton 7-20 2-3 17, Cherrelle Newsom 2-11 0-0 6, Laila Grant 6-11 3-4 17, Trinitee Harris 3-5 0-0 6, Chanice Willis 2-7 2-2 6, Nina Blade 3-4 6-6 12, Cristina Requejo 0-0 0-0 0, Anete Bluma 0-2 0-0 0, Team 27-73 17-21 76.

Southwestern Illinois – 11  17  15  16 – 59

VU (16-7, 9-2) – 13  19  18  26 – 76

Three-point goals: VU 5 (Newsom 2, Grant 2, Thornton). Rebounds: VU 38 (Michels 13). Assists: VU 14 (Newsom 6). Steals: VU 16 (Thornton 6). Blocked shots: VU 3 (Michels 2). Turnovers: VU 11. Personal Fouls: VU 12. Fouled out: None.