Defense shines as Lady Blazers get Region win over Olney Central

VINCENNES, Ind. – The Vincennes University Lady Trailblazers returned to the home court Wednesday for a Region 24 showdown with Olney Central College from nearby Olney, Ill.

The offenses for both teams struggled all night but it was the Vincennes defense that was able to come out on top in the end, coming away with a 52-43 victory over the Lady Blue Knights.

The game was a defensive struggle from the very beginning with both teams having a hard time finding the bottom of the net early before the Lady Blazers were able to get some shots to fall and ride a 12-2 scoring run to take a 15-6 and end the first quarter of play holding a 15-9 advantage.

Olney Central came back firing in the second quarter, cutting the VU lead down to just a single point at 17-16 before the Lady Blazers closed out the first half strong by scoring the final five points of the half to head into the locker room holding a 25-20 lead.

Vincennes was able to carry this momentum over into the start of the third quarter where VU opening the second half with five straight points.

The Lady Blue Knights continued to battle and cut the deficit to five and the Lady Blazers were able to get the lead to 39-33 heading into the fourth quarter.

Olney Central again attempted a late run at the Lady Blazers early in the fourth, getting the VU lead down to 42-40 but Vincennes again was able to regain the momentum and ride the home crowd to close out the game on a 10-3 run to come away with the 52-43 victory over Olney Central.

The Lady Blazers defense controlled the game all night, forcing 22 turnovers and holding the Lady Blue Knights to just 22 percent shooting from the floor.

VU was led offensively by another big game by freshman Emani Washington (Indianapolis, Ind.) who came away with 12 points, six rebounds, five assists and three steals.

Sophomore Marta Gutierrez (Alicante, Spain) matched Washington's 12 points to lead the Lady Blazers, while also dishing out a team-high seven assists to go along with six rebounds.

Freshman Jasmyn Robey (Sellersburg, Ind.) was the third VU scorer in double figures Wednesday night, coming off the bench to add 10 points, three rebounds and a pair of steals.

Freshman Delora Pricop (Satu Mare, Romania) just missed out on another double-double with eight points, a team-high 11 rebounds and setting a new career-high with seven big blocks in the game.

Freshman Ahmya Thomas (Phoenix, Ariz.) came away with eight points, six rebounds and three steals, while freshman Yanni Huggins (Belleville, Mich.) rounded out the VU box score with two points, seven rebounds and a team-high five steals.

The Lady Trailblazers will hit the road again this weekend as they get set to head to nearby Mt. Carmel, Ill. Saturday, Jan. 25 and face-off with No. 7-ranked Wabash Valley College at 5 p.m. eastern.

This will be the first of three straight road games for the Lady Blazers as they head to Hillsboro, Mo. Monday, Jan. 27 to take on Jefferson College at 6 p.m. eastern and face-off against John A. Logan College in Carterville, Ill. Saturday, Feb. 1 at 2 p.m. eastern.

VINCENNES BOX SCORE

VINCENNES (52): Delora Pricop 4-12 0-1 8, Ahmya Thomas 2-12 3-5 8, Marta Gutierrez 3-7 6-10 12, Yanni Huggins 1-5 0-0 2, Emani Washington 5-14 0-0 12, Jazmyn Robey 4-10 1-2 10, Team 19-60 10-18 52.

Olney Central – 9   11   13   10 – 43

VU (10-10, 5-1) – 15   10   14   13 – 52

Three-point goals: VU 4 (Washington 2, Thomas, Robey). Rebounds: VU 39 (Pricop 11). Assists: VU 18 (Gutierrez 7). Steals: VU 17 (Huggins 5). Blocked Shots: VU 9 (Pricop 7). Turnovers: VU 14. Personal Fouls: VU 16. Fouled out: None. Technical Fouls: Hartsfield (2nd – 2:20).