Lady Blazers fall in District Semi-Finals to Rend Lake College

MATTOON, Ill. – The Vincennes University Lady Trailblazers season likely came to an end Tuesday night in the Midwest District Semi-Finals as the Lady Blazers fell 86-64 to Rend Lake.

The Lady Blazers fell behind early in the first quarter, trailing by 11 points midway through the period.

VU closed out the first quarter on an 8-2 scoring run as Vincennes trailed 19-14 after the first 10 minutes of play.

The Lady Warriors built their lead backup in the second quarter to 14 midway through the second quarter at 36-22.

Vincennes attempted to narrow the margin before the break but were only able to cut the deficit to 13 as Rend Lake held a 44-31 lead at the half.

Rend Lake looked to take full control of the game in the third quarter, opening the second half on a 12-1 scoring run to lead 56-32.

Vincennes battled back to end the quarter, but still trailed by 15 heading into the final 10 minutes of play.

VU continued to use the momentum of the game to cut the deficit back to single digits at 67-58 early in the fourth quarter.

This would be as close as the Lady Blazers would get however, as Rend Lake built their lead back and came away with the 86-64 win in the Midwest District Semi-Finals.

"We picked a bad night not to play well," VU Hall of Fame Head Coach Harry Meeks said. "Our shooting percentage was woeful and Rend Lake seemed to make every shot they threw up there for a while. I didn't think we played that bad defensively but they seemed to have it going and we weren't able to cut into their lead."

"We were able to get good looks at the basket, we just couldn't make a shot," Meeks added. "Rend Lake was able to slow down some of our scorers that we've been living off of this season and we just didn't play well."

VU was led offensively by sophomore Laila Grant (Derwood, Md.) and freshman Candela Lascorz (Huesca, Spain) who finished with 12 points each.

Grant would also finish the game with seven rebounds and three assists. Lascorz also helped on the glass off the bench, finishing with five rebounds.

Freshman DayLynn Thornton (Lafayette, Ind.) finished her night with nine points. Thornton also found the open passing lanes to a pair of assists.

Freshmen Trinitee Harris (Elkhart, Ind.) and Kylee Shelton (Bloomfield, Ind.) ended the night with eight points each. Shelton connected on a pair of three's and Harris dished out a team-high four assists.

Sophomore Nina Blade (Milwaukee, Wis.) ended her night with a team-high eight rebounds, while also scoring four points.

"Candela did a good job for us," Meeks said. "She was on the boards rebounding and did a lot of good things for us tonight."

"Laila always plays her heart out for you," Meeks added. "She will give you 40 minutes, no matter what. I thought she did that tonight and her effort tonight was superior. She has done a great job for us all year and I really appreciate her coming to play here."

The Lady Blazers will now look to receive and At-Large bid into the NJCAA National Tournament, with a season record of 20 wins and nine losses.

"Basically, we started the season with probably only two girls who had played together for any length of time," Meeks said. "We pretty much had a team that had never played together. We started out the year a little shaky, especially after facing some really good teams to begin the year. But we got our baptism by fire and I thought, as the season went on, we made progress."

"I told this group in the locker room tonight that they are the nicest group of ladies that I have ever had," Meeks added. "We never had any problems from anybody. They did everything they were supposed to and personified what it takes to be a college athlete. I really appreciate the way they have played this season and all the hard work they have put in. We had a long way to go when we started this season and they did that and I had coaching this group of young ladies as you could possibly have. I just feel sorry for them because we weren't able to finish the way I thought we would finish."

VINCENNES BOX SCORE

VINCENNES (64): DayLynn Thornton 2-7 3-4 9, Cherrelle Newsom 2-9 1-1 6, Elena Aznar 1-2 0-0 2, Macy Michels 0-3 2-2 2, Laila Grant 4-13 4-4 12, Trinitee Harris 3-6 2-2 8, Chanice Willis 0-6 1-2 1, Nina Blade 2-6 0-0 4, Candela Lascorz 4-8 4-4 12, Kylee Shelton 3-7 0-0 8, Cristina Requejo 0-1 0-0 0, Anete Bluma 0-2 0-0 0, Team 21-70 17-19 64.

VU (20-9, 13-4) – 14  17  16  17 – 64

Rend Lake – 19  25  18  24 – 86

Three-point goals: VU 5 (Thornton 2, Shelton 2, Newsom). Rebounds: VU 33 (Blade 8). Assists: VU 15 (Harris 4). Steals: VU 12 (Aznar 2, Grant 2, Blade 2, Bluma 2). Blocked shots: VU 1 (Aznar). Turnovers: VU 19. Personal Fouls: VU 20. Fouled out: None.