MATTOON, Ill. – The Vincennes University Lady Trailblazers earned their spot in the NJCAA Division I Region 24 Championship game for the second year in a row. Waiting for them was a familiar foe in No. 2-ranked Wabash Valley College.
The Lady Blazers fought hard throughout the game but unfortunately came up on the wrong end of a 95-79 final score.
Vincennes did not get off to a good start Thursday night at Lake Land College, with Wabash Valley quickly jumping ahead of VU 6-0 early in the first quarter.
After a timeout to settle things down, the Lady Blazers would answer back with an 8-2 run of their own to even the score at 8-8.
Wabash Valley would counter with a 10-3 run and close out the first quarter outscoring VU 11-5 to take a 19-13 lead after the first 10 minutes of play.
The Lady Warriors added on to their lead in the second quarter, opening the second period by outscoring VU 17-9 to take a 43-22 lead.
Play was halted briefly as severe weather in the area of Mattoon Thursday night caused a 15-minute weather delay with under a minute to go in the first half.
After play resumed the two teams traded baskets to head into the halftime break with the Lady Trailblazers trailing Wabash Valley 45-29.
VU looked to have their best run at Wabash Valley to start the second half, with VU freshman Makyla Tucker (Indianapolis, Ind.) scoring eight straight points for VU as the Blazers cut the Lady Warriors lead down to 51-39.
Wabash Valley would get their lead back up to 19 later in the third quarter, but the Lady Blazers again refused to go away as Vincennes cut the deficit to 71-55 heading into the final 10 minutes of play.
Vincennes started to get the crowd behind them in the fourth quarter and were able to ride the momentum to getting within 12 points of Wabash Valley, before the Lady Warriors responded with a 10-2 scoring run.
VU again looked to gain some traction with six unanswered points but were unfortunately stopped by six unanswered for Wabash Valley.
The Lady Warriors were able to run the clock down the stretch with VU Hall of Fame Head Coach electing to play the final minutes with all five of his sophomores on the floor as Wabash Valley closed out the 95-79 victory over VU.
The Lady Trailblazers were led Thursday night by a monster double-double by sophomore Elikya Baseyila (Paris, France) who finished with 19 points and 18 rebounds, including 15 points coming in the second half of play.
Freshman Makyla Tucker came off the bench to 13 points, 11 of which coming in the second half.
Freshman Destinee Hooks (Indianapolis, Ind.) had to battle some tough defense all night and still almost came away with a double-double, ending her night with 13 points, nine rebounds, five assists and three steals.
Freshman Karina Scott (Noblesville, Ind.) was the fourth VU scorer in double figures, getting the VU offense going early to score 10 of her 13 points in the first half, while also picking up a pair of steals.
Sophomore Maycee Lange (Vincennes, Ind.) came off the bench to hit all three of her shot attempts to finish with six points, while fellow sophomores Katrina Litte (Valmiera, Latvia) and Brie Miller (Bainbridge, Ind.) ended with five points and four points respectively.
Litte would also lead the Lady Blazers with six assists, while Miller grabbed five rebounds and tied Hooks for the team-high three steals on the night.
Thursday night's loss likely ends the season for the Lady Trailblazers with a final record of 19-11, including winning 16 of their last 20 games of the season.
The loss also spells the end of the VU careers of the Lady Trailblazers' five sophomores, Elikya Baseyila, Maycee Lange, Brie Miller, Katrina Litte and Najra Voloder (Konjic, Bosnia).
This sophomore group closed out their two seasons in the Blue and Gold with a final record of 40-22 and back-to-back runner up finishes in the Region 24 tournament.
VINCENNES BOX SCORE
VINCENNES (79): Destinee Hooks 5-26 2-6 13, Karina Scott 5-10 0-0 13, Katrina Litte 2-6 0-0 5, Brie Miller 1-7 2-2 4, Elikya Baseyila 8-14 3-5 19, Giavonnie Belton 1-12 2-2 4, Makyla Tucker 5-13 0-0 13, Najra Voloder 1-2 0-0 2, Maycee Lange 3-3 0-0 6, Team 31-93 9-15 79.
VU (19-11, 14-3) – 13 16 26 24 – 79
Wabash Valley – 19 26 26 24 – 95
Three-point goals: VU 8 (Scott 3, Tucker 3, Hooks, Litte). Rebounds: VU 43 (Baseyila 18). Assists: VU 19 (Litte 6. Steals: VU 16 (Hooks 3, Miller 3). Blocked Shots: VU 3 (Voloder 2). Turnovers: VU 16. Personal Fouls: VU 21. Fouled out: None. Technical Fouls: Baseyila (3 – 2:50), Belton (4 – 9:42).