University of Southern Indiana Women’s Basketball rallied from a nine-point first-half hole and a five-point halftime deficit to defeat the University of Wisconsin-Parkside, 75-53, and clinch its second consecutive Great Lakes Valley Conference East Division title Thursday evening.
Led by senior guard/forward Kaydie Grooms (Marshall, Illinois) and senior forward Morgan Dahlstrom (Grayslake, Illinois), the No. 9/14 Screaming Eagles outscored, the Rangers 44-17 in the second half, including 21-5 in the third period, to earn their 13th straight victory.
Grooms led all scorers with 23 points on 8-of-12 (.667) shooting and a 7-of-10 (.700) effort from the free throw line. She scored five of USI’s first seven points in the third period, including the basket that put the Eagles in front (38-36) for good midway through the third period.
USI (24-2, 16-1 GLVC), which trailed 28-19 early in the second quarter and 35-27 late in the first half, got buckets by Dahlstrom and Grooms in the closing minute of the half to begin what turned out to be a game-changing 23-3 run.
The Eagles scored the first nine points of the second half and led 50-38 until a UW-Parkside three-pointer late in the third period briefly broke USI’s momentum. USI, however, got a pair of free throws from Grooms at the end of the quarter to go up 52-41; then scored 10 of the first 12 points in the fourth quarter to extend its lead to 62-43 with six minutes to play.
In the process, Dahlstrom became the 18th player in program history to eclipse the 1,000-point barrier and the sixth player to reach 1,000 points and 700 rebounds. She entered the night in need of 18 points to reach the plateau and finished the game with 18 points and four rebounds.
Grooms, senior guard Randa Harshbarger (Philo, Illinois) and junior forward Kacy Eschweiler (St. Charles, Missouri) each had a game-high tying six rebounds for the Eagles, who earned a 38-26 edge on the glass. Eschweiler finished with six points and a career-high six assists, while Harshbarger had four points and five assists.
Junior guard Ali Bettencourt had 20 points to lead the Rangers (8-21, 4-13 GLVC), who made 5-of-8 three-pointers in the first 11 minutes to build the nine-point lead. USI was 0-of-10 from the arc, but managed to shoot 50.0 percent (28-56) for the game, while holding the Rangers to just 15-of-45 (.333) from the field.
Strangely enough, the Eagles shot 61.5 percent (8-13) from the field in the first period despite trailing 25-19 heading into the second quarter. USI, which was 19-of-25 from the free throw line, coughed the ball up 11 times in the first half; but limited its offensive miscues to just three second-half turnovers.
USI, which is 7-0 against the East Division in 2017-18, can make it a clean sweep of the East if it can defeat host Lewis University Saturday at 1 p.m. in Romeoville, Illinois. The Flyers (21-6, 14-3 GLVC) were idle Thursday evening.
