VU Lady Blazers survive and advance to the Region 24 semis with win over Olney Central

MATTOON, Ill. – The Vincennes University Lady Trailblazers began their postseason Sunday afternoon at the NJCAA Division I Region 24 tournament hosted by Lake Land College in Mattoon, Ill.

The Lady Blazers earned the No. 2 seed and played a tough, back-and-forth battle against No. 7 seed Olney Central College, with VU coming away with the 75-64 win.

VU got off to a slow start Sunday, after grabbing a narrow one-point lead, the Lady Blue Knights answered back to close out the first quarter on a 7-1 scoring run, giving Olney Central a 16-11 lead after the first period.

Vincennes came out of the first quarter break firing however, scoring the first 12 points of the second quarter and built a 26-18 lead.

Olney Central would again answer the bell, with the Lady Blue Knights using an 8-0 scoring run to tie the game before VU took a one-point lead into the halftime break at 29-28.

VU again started the third quarter hot, scoring the first six points of the third quarter. Olney Central would slowly chip away at the VU lead, cutting the deficit to just two before VU closed out the third period on an 8-0 scoring run to take a 53-43 lead into the final 10 minutes of play.

Olney Central would get within five points in the fourth quarter, but VU was able to put the game away late at the free throw line as VU closed out their 20th win of the season by the final score of 75-64.

"We started off the game not as quickly as I would like," VU Hall of Fame Head Coach Harry Meeks said. "We struggled to score early and we couldn't get anything going offensively. We missed several layups. We missed a lot of free throws. Then in the second quarter we started to pick it up a bit and held a one-point lead at the half."

"We came out in the third quarter and played really well," Meeks added. "Fourth quarter I thought we played really well as well. I'm pleased with the girls. I'm pleased with the effort. Elikya really did a good job for us on the block. The guards all did a really good job for us. So I'm just really pleased with how we played."

Vincennes was led offensively by sophomore Cherrelle Newsom (Indianapolis, Ind.) who finished with 16 points and four assists.

Sophomore Daylynn Thornton (Lafayette, Ind.) finished her night with 15 points, three rebounds, three assists and a team-high two steals.

Freshman Elikya Baseyila (Paris, France) battled an ankle injury all night and still came away with her 12th double-double of the season with 14 points, 10 rebounds and a team-high two blocks.

Freshman Katrina Litte (Valmiera, Latvia) came off the bench to score 11 points and dishing out a team-high five assists in her second game back from a rib injury she suffered in January.

Freshman Maycee Lange (Vincennes, Ind.) just missed a double-double of her own, ending with nine points and a team-high 11 rebounds.

Freshman Ra'Mya Milton (Brownsburg, Ind.) came off the bench to play some big minutes for the Lady Blazers, setting new career-highs in points with six and rebounds with eight.

"I thought Maycee and Ra'Mya were outstanding today," Meeks said. "They did a really good job of battling on the boards. They both did a really good job of boxing out and being around for some offensive rebounds."

"All of our sophomores did a really good job today," Meeks added. "I'm really pleased with how our freshman handled this game. Elikya again showed what kind of force she can be if we can get her anywhere close to 100-percent. I'm just really pleased with how the whole team played today."

The Lady Trailblazers will advance to the Region 24 Semifinals Tuesday, March 7 at Lake Land College.

VU will play the winner of No. 3 seed Southwestern Illinois College and No. 6 seed Kaskaskia College. Tip-off time Tuesday is set for 8 p.m. eastern.

Other first round scores from Sunday were No. 1 seed Wabash Valley winning over No. 8 seed John A. Logan 100-59 and No. 4 seed Shawnee winning over No. 5 seed Rend Lake College 82-52.

"We are going to have to play well Tuesday against either of those teams," Meeks said. "The second time we played both of them, they gave us fits. We were able to beat Kaskaskia by five and we lost to SWIC. We are just going to have to play better than what we did at home. I remember playing these teams at home, we just got off to a horrible start and really had to fight our way back."

"Tuesday is definitely going to be a tough game," Meeks added. "Both of these teams have good athletes and both were playing some really good basketball at the end of the regular season. Both teams are very well coached and have done a really good job with both of their teams. SWIC has a newer coach that has been in their system for a number of years and Kaskaskia's coach has been around in this league for a few years and they know what it takes to build a basketball team."

VINCENNES BOX SCORE

VU (75): Cherrelle Newsom 5-14 4-4 16, Daylynn Thornton 5-10 5-10 15, Brie Miller 0-3 0-0 0, Elikya Baseyila 6-12 2-3 14, Maycee Lange 3-7 3-4 9, Kennadi Harris 1-3 2-4 4 Katrina Litte 3-6 4-6 11, Ra'Mya Milton 3-10 0-1 6, Team 26-65 20-32 75.

Olney Central – 16   12   15   21 – 64

VU (20-10, 13-4) – 11   18   24   22 – 75

Three-point goals: VU 3 (Newsom 2, Litte). Rebounds: VU 43 (Lange 11). Assists: VU 15 (Litte 5). Steals: VU 7 (Thornton 2, Miller 2, Milton 2). Blocked Shots: VU 4 (Baseyila 2, Lange 2). Turnovers: VU 13. Personal Fouls: VU 20. Fouled out: None.