VINCENNES, Ind – Vincennes University Lady Trailblazers head coach Harry Meeks notched his 700th career win as leader of the Lady Blazers in VU's 75-66 win over Lincoln Trail Saturday night.
The Blazers got off to another slow start offensively, scoring only nine points in the first 10 minutes of the game, but held serve on the defensive end to trail by just three points after the first quarter.
VU's offense came through in the second quarter led by sophomore guard Reeva Hammelman to outscore Lincoln Trail 26-15 to take a 35-27 lead into the locker room.
LTC answered back in the third quarter, cutting the Trailblazer lead down to a single point heading into the final 10 minutes of play.
Vincennes rallied, determined to get their coach this milestone victory, to win the fourth quarter 25-17 and take the 75-66 victory on their home floor.
The game was back-and-forth from start to finish, with the lead changing hands 15 times during the game.
"I feel pretty good about getting to 700 wins," Hall of Fame head coach Harry Meeks said. "I'm really pleased to have 700 wins. The thing that excites me, is that I'm coaching in Indiana, which has the best basketball at this level, the high school level and the NCAA level and I'm really pleased that I've been a success here. We've played tough team every year, I'd put my schedule up against anybody in the NJCAA year in and year out. We don't hide from anybody, so that makes the 700 even more important."
"I think these girls were pleased to get the 700th win for me and I was pleased to have them on the floor for that. They had a video presentation for me that was awesome. It made me cry and I'm not ashamed of that. I really like these girls. I really like this school. Most people know I'm crazy about VU and want them to be successful forever. It's exciting to coach here and the 700th win was something special."
VU was led offensively by their trio of sophomore guards. Led by Amani Brown who finished with 26 points, 21 of which came in the second half. Brown also added five steals and four rebounds to her night.
Shaila Beeler finished with 16 points and four assists, followed by Reeva Hammelman, who ended her night with 13 points and four rebounds.
"This team is built around guard play and when they perform well, we absolutely have a shot at winning," Meeks added. "I think we've got to get a little tougher around the basket so we can make some of those layups that we missed. We're working extremely hard and maybe I put too much pressure on our inside players to make those. But I'm excited about how we played. I'm excited that we didn't let this one get away from us. I've got a couple other guards that come off the bench that play a major role in the game also, so we're guard oriented. If we get some good performances out of our four and five inside then we'll be alright."
The Lady Blazers forwards controlled the glass on both ends of the floor, with Candela Lascorz getting 10 of her team-high 11 rebounds on the defensive end and Alexis Radcliff grabbing five of her nine rebounds on the offensive side of the floor.
VU now turns attention to hosting Shawnee, Monday, March 15 at the P.E. Complex, in a game that was postponed due to inclement weather. Tip-off Monday is set for 5 p.m. eastern.
"This is a makeup game from earlier in the season and it fit into our schedule well, but it makes it very difficult for us down the road because we have two weeks where we play three games, starting next week. Those two weeks are followed up by another week where we play two games, so we've got eight games just in a row. We're going to have to keep our conditioning good. We're going to have to get our rest and make sure we're doing a good job taking care of our health so we can participate in all eight of those games."
