Trinitee Harris’ second-half double-double leads Lady Blazers to win over Rend Lake

VINCENNES, Ind. – VU freshman Trinitee Harris (Elkhart, Ind.) recorded her first career double-double of 14 points and a new career-high 13 rebounds Tuesday night in the Lady Blazers 76-74 win over Rend Lake in Vincennes' regular season finale.

What makes Harris' accomplishment so impressive, is that she didn't play a second in the first half. Harris finished with 14 points, 13 rebounds and a team-high four assists, all in the third and fourth quarters alone.

Vincennes got off to a quick start against the Lady Warriors, scoring eight of the first nine points of the game to take an early seven point lead.

Rend Lake responded with a 10-2 scoring run to take the lead late in the first quarter and hold a 19-14 advantage after the first 10 minutes of play.

VU opened the second quarter by cutting the lead down to two before Rend Lake answered back to grow their lead back 10 midway through the second.

Vincennes would battle tough, but the Lady Warriors held a 38-27 lead heading into the locker room.

VU Hall of Fame Head Coach Harry Meeks purposefully kept Harris out of the game in the first half, so she could be fresh in the second half and Harris immediately made an impact.

Within the first five minutes of Harris being on the floor, she had already grabbed seven rebounds as VU opened the second half on an 11-0 run to even the score at 38-38.

The two teams battled throughout the third quarter, with neither team able to sustain a lead as the game was even at 46-46 heading into the final quarter of play.

VU outscored the Lady Warriors 25- 9 to start the fourth quarter, jumping out to their largest lead of the game at 69-55.

Rend Lake would answer back, slowly chipping away at the VU lead but were never able to retake the lead as Vincennes closed out their 19th win of the season by the final score of 76-74.

"We had a 'come to church' meeting in the locker room at halftime," Meeks said. "We didn't do anything correctly in the first half. We mishandled the ball, missed shots and we were very unsure of ourselves. We had to talk about measuring up to what the task was tonight and being responsible as a teammate to help your team win."

"We started a little different in the second half," Meeks added. "I started Trinitee in the second half and that was a big factor. That was a shot in the arm for us about pushing the ball up floor. We made that deficit up rather quickly and we didn't struggle doing it either, so that was the important part of the game. We had to get back into the game after being out of it at the end of the first half."

"We finished with five girls in double figures and that's the way we like to play. We like to spread the ball around a little bit. At the end of the game, we gave up a 10 point lead and it got back down to two, when they didn't quite understand what I wanted them to do. We just needed to run our offense, because they were down they were going to foul us and we were going to end up at the free throw line. We still never quite got that corrected and we'll talk about that and we'll work on it. So, by the time we get to our next game, we'll know how to use it."

"We've won 19 games this season, but 18 of them have been against teams we should have beat. This is the first team that we have beaten that is rated higher than we are. Rend Lake plays a good game. Their coach does a great job and they have got some good athletes on their team. Their guards are tough to play against. This is a good win for us and it sets us up to go into the tournament on a high note. I'm really proud of the way these girls played and how they battled back."

Harris was one of five VU scorers to reach double figures, with sophomore Laila Grant (Derwood, Md.) adding 13 points and three rebounds on the night.

Sophomore Macy Michels (Teutopolis, Ill.) ended her night with 12 points and seven rebounds but had to sit most of the second half due to foul trouble.

Freshman DayLynn Thornton (Lafayette, Ind.) came through with some clutch shots in the second half on her way to 12 points, five rebounds and three assists.

Freshman Cherrelle Newsom (Indianapolis, Ind.) was the fifth VU scorer in double figures, ending her night with 11 points and a career-high five rebounds.

Sophomore Nina Blade nearly finished with a double-double on the night off the bench, ending with nine points and 11 rebounds on the game.

"Trinitee's ability to get the ball and get by the defense, because they were trying to press us and we needed to get the ball into the frontcourt was big for us tonight," Meeks said. "With her being well rested coming off the bench, I had that in mind, I thought about it yesterday. I wanted to have a fresh body out there to start the second half because I know how Rend Lake plays and I knew they would keep running the ball. Cherrelle was a little gassed at the end of the first half. We left her out there for a long time and I planned on that. I didn't talk to my assistant coach about it, I just knew I wanted a fresh point guard in the second half to help us put pressure on them offensively."

"I didn't think we played well offensively in the first half," Meeks added. "But we brought it up a notch or two in the second half and it relates to Trinitee being able to push the ball up the floor. Trinitee came up the floor with her ball handling ability and they fouled her several times and she was a good free throw shooter."

"Laila didn't have a particularly good night, but I kept telling her that she is going to make these shots and tried to psych her up and she start to make them. She made a bunch of free throws and I thought that was very positive for us. We had some people who stepped up, this is a good win for us and I'm going to enjoy this one."

Vincennes will have a long break before their next game, when the Lady Blazers travel to Lake Land College in Mattoon, Ill. to take part in the Region 24 Tournament.

The Lady Blazers will play their first round game on Sunday, Feb. 27 but their game time and opponent are still yet to be decided. Vincennes will either play at 6 p.m. or 8 p.m. eastern time on Sunday, as VU waits to see if they will be slated as the No. 2 seed or No. 3 seed in the tournament.

"We are going to keep working on our running and keep our legs where they should be," Meeks said. "We pretty much know that we are going to end up playing Rend Lake again. Then if we can beat them again, we have to face Wabash Valley. I think Wabash Valley will win the other side of the bracket rather easily. I think the important thing about playing against Wabash Valley is, we can't get down early and we are going to have to be able to run our offense and rebound and do the things that we need to do."

"I thought Nina came in tonight and helped us on the boards," Meeks added. "I know she was frustrated offensively because she kept getting fouled and I thought she played really well. She made some free throws, got some big rebounds for us."

"Macy Michels did a really nice job for us both scoring and rebounding. She was big factor for us early in the second half by making a couple of jump shots that really helped the team. Cherrelle did a good job of handling the ball and running the offense. Then I put Trinitee in and ran Cherrelle at the two and that gave us another really good shooter on the floor. I'm proud of this team. They have worked hard and tonight was a really big win for us."

VINCENNES BOX SCORE

VINCENNES (76) – Elena Aznar 2-8 1-2 5, Macy Michels 6-10 0-0 12, DayLynn Thornton 5-11 0-0 12, Cherrelle Newsom 3-10 3-4 11, Laila Grant 5-15 3-4 13, Trinitee Harris 5-6 4-6 14, Chanice Willis 0-2 0-0 0, Nina Blade 3-7 3-4 9, Candela Lascorz 0-0 0-0 0, Kylee Shelton 0-3 0-0 0, Team 29-72 14-20 76.

Rend Lake – 19  19  8  28 – 74

VU (19-8, 12-3) – 14  13  19  30 – 76

Three-point goals: VU 4 (Thornton 2, Newsom 2). Rebounds: VU 52 (Harris 13). Assists: VU 15 (Harris 4). Steals: VU 6 (Aznar, Michels, Thornton, Harris, Willis, Blade). Blocked Shots: VU 1 (Michels). Turnovers: VU 25. Personal Fouls: VU 21. Fouled out: None. Technical Fouls: VU Harris (4 – 6:44).