VINCENNES, Ind. – The No. 24-ranked Vincennes University Lady Trailblazers picked a strong 96-63 win over John A. Logan Thursday night in a game that saw two Lady Blazers record double-doubles.
VU started out the game slow, falling behind by seven in midway through the first quarter before getting their offense rolling to take a six-point lead after the first quarter.
The Trailblazers then continued their hot shooting into the second, scoring opening the quarter on a 17-1 scoring run.
VU would continue to grow their lead, heading into halftime with a commanding 24-point advantage.
Vincennes continued to add to their lead in the second half, leading by as many as 43 points.
John A. Logan continued to fight, winning the fourth quarter 23-15, but it wasn't enough as the Lady Trailblazers picked up their fifth win of the season and win No. 696 for Hall of Fame head coach Harry Meeks.
"I thought we got off to a good start, gave up a few extra points to begin the game but we really tighten our belts and I thought for a quarter and a half we played really good basketball," Meeks said. "In the second half I started subbing and our defense got a little loose. I thought Logan scored more than they probably should have, but we were trying to play people and try to get them some experience. Sitting beside me isn't going to get them any experience so we have to put them out there and some of these ladies did a pretty good job. There wasn't anyone that you could really criticize, they played hard, they did a good job for us, we made some shots."
"We've got to work on our rebounding, work on our block outs and on the ball pressure needs to get better, those are the areas that we need to work on, but I'm really pleased that we got everyone in the game, everybody contributed. This was a nice win for us."
VU was led offensively by sophomore guard Reeva Hammelman, who finished with a game-high 19 points, 15 of which coming in the first half, while also adding four assists and three rebounds.
"Reeva, day in and day out, is the hardest working kid on our team," Meeks said of his sophomore guard. "She really sets an example for other and she's turned into a real positive force for us."
Sophomore Nina Blade and freshman Enija Brown-Griffin each recorded a double-double, with Blade scoring 14 points and grabbing 10 rebounds. Brown Griffin came off the bench to score 11 points and grab 10 rebounds.
"Nina and Enija are first year players for us, Enija is still working her way into the lineup and playing really hard. I keep telling them every day that defense travels and they worked really hard and I was glad to see us get on the boards."
Sophomore Shaila Beeler finished with 12 points and six assists and three rebounds.
Freshman Noni Russell finished with 11 points, seven rebounds and three assists off the bench.
The Lady Trailblazers will have nearly a full week to prepare for their next opponent as VU will host Shawnee, Wednesday, Feb. 17, as part of a VU basketball doubleheader. The Lady Blazers will tip off the night at 5 p.m. eastern.
"We are looking to overall get better. Get better with our defense, get better running our offense, work on our shooting and see if we can bring that on a little more. We have more players getting time on the floor that are showing they can shoot the ball."
"We were pressed into playing our opener at Mineral Area with little to no practice time and I think since then we've started to make progress and we don't want to take a step backwards so we're going to work really hard so we can improve. I think this could be a really good basketball team, so we're going to work on being as good as we can be."
