VINCENNES, Ind. – The Vincennes University Lady Trailblazers returned home to the Physical Education Complex Wednesday night to host another Region 24 contest against Lincoln Trail College from Robinson, Ill.

The Lady Blazers overcame a slow start and pulled away late to finish off the 78-57 victory over the Lady Statesmen.

Vincennes got off to a bit of a slow start Wednesday night back in front of the home crowd, quickly falling behind 8-2 to the Lady Statesmen.

Vincennes would rebound and rally back with a 12-3 scoring run to take a 14-11 lead.

VU would continue to build on this early momentum by closing out the first quarter of play on an 11-2 scoring run to put the Lady Blazers ahead 27-17 at the first quarter break.

The Lady Statesmen quickly cut the deficit down to five early in the second quarter before VU again responded with nine straight points to put the lead back at 39-25.

Vincennes would hold onto this lead heading into the locker room break, finishing the first half of action leading the Lady Statesmen 44-31.

Coming out of the locker room for the second half the Lady Blazers looked to add more to their lead, opening the second half with seven straight points and growing the lead to 60-43 heading into the fourth.

Vincennes had the game in complete control in the fourth quarter, building their largest lead of the night at 76-53 and finishing out the victory by the final score of 78-57.

The Lady Trailblazers were led offensively by another big night by freshman Delora Pricop (Satu Mare, Romania) who secured her 11th double-double of the season in the first half, finished out her night with 26 points, 14 rebounds and four steals.

Sophomore Marta Gutierrez (Alicante, Spain) finished the game with 18 points, six rebounds and five assists.

Freshman Ahmya Thomas (Phoenix, Ariz.) was the third Lady Blazer scorer in double figures with 10 points and a team-high six assists.

Freshmen Jazmyn Robey (Sellersburg, Ind.) finished with nine points, Emani Washington (Indianapolis, Ind.) had 8 points and Netala Dixon (Dyersburg, Tenn.) ended her night with 6 points, six assists, four rebounds and three steals.

The Lady Trailblazers move to 12-12 on the season after it was announced that Moberly Area Community College had to forfeit their game against VU on Nov. 16 due to an ineligible player.

VINCENNES, Ind. – The Vincennes University Trailblazers made another big jump in this week’s NJCAA Division I National rankings, moving up eight spots to No. 8 in the country, No. 3 in the Nielsen File Top 25 rankings and No. 5 in the JUCO Advocate Media Poll.

The Trailblazers got their first opportunity to back up this big jump in the rankings Wednesday night when the Blazers hosted Lincoln Trail College from Robinson, Ill. inside the P.E. Complex.

Vincennes got off to a tough start in the first half and headed into the locker room trailing the Statesmen by three but were able to come out firing in the second half to put up 62 second half points and close out the 93-72 victory over Lincoln Trail.

Things got off to a rocky start Wednesday night for the Trailblazers, as Lincoln Trail was the first team to break away with an 11-1 run to go ahead by 11 late in the first half.

Vincennes was able to rally back and close the margin before halftime however, ending the first half on a 10-3 run to head into the locker room break trailing the Statesmen 34-31.

Coming out of the locker room VU Hall of Fame Head Coach Todd Franklin opted for a new lineup and this group would prove to be the spark as the Blazers opened the second half with nine straight points to take a 40-31 lead.

The Trailblazers continued to ride this momentum, outscoring the Statesmen 41-17 at one point during the second half as VU began to pull away with a 76-54 lead.

Vincennes was able to put the game in cruise control late and empty the bench as the Trailblazers came away with the big 93-72 victory over Lincoln Trail College.

VU was led offensively by a big second half from freshman Dayton Williams (Louisville, Ky.) who finished off his fourth double-double of the season with 22 points, 10 rebounds and a team-high five assists.

Freshman Jalen Calloway (Chicago, Ill.) provided a big spark for the Trailblazers at both ends of the floor, coming away with 19 points, six rebounds and three assists.

Sophomore Hussein Elmaraghy (Cairo, Egypt) once again set a new season-high in points, coming off the bench to finish his night with 19 points, seven rebounds and four assists.

Freshman Travelle Bryson (Anderson, S.C.) was the fourth VU scorer in double figures, coming off the bench to add 16 points, four rebounds and four assists.

The Trailblazers as a team shot 64 percent from the floor in the second half Wednesday night, including hitting 73 percent from behind the three point arc, hitting eight of 11 shots.

 SIU takes 68-59 win on Wednesday

 EVANSVILLE, Ind. – Trailing by 20 points in the second half, the University of Evansville men’s basketball team stormed back to get within four points before Southern Illinois rebounded to take a 68-59 win on Wednesday night at the Ford Center.

Leading the way for UE was Tayshawn Comer who posted a game-high 25 points.  He was 7-of-19 from the field and knocked down 7 of his 10 free throw tries.  Gabriel Pozzato completed the game with 13 points.

“I want to give SIU and their staff a ton of credit – they were ready to play tonight and had a great amount of energy,” UE head coach David Ragland said.  “They usually do not shoot as well from three but tonight, we left them open and they hit them.”

Comer was on fire to start the game, knocking down a pair of early triples to give the Purple Aces a 6-3 lead.  Southern Illinois’ second triple of the game tied the score at 6-6, however, Connor Turnbull hit a long jumper to put UE back in front.

Over the next two minutes, the Salukis took control with a 9-0 as they converted three more from downtown.  Comer’s eighth point of the contest put a temporary halt to the stretch as SIU added to the lead for the duration of the half.  With 6:43 remaining, the lead reached 13 as another 3-pointer gave the Salukis a 27-14 advantage.

Tanner Cuff found Turnbull on an alley oop to get within 10, but Southern continued to have an answer.  Knocking down 10 triples in the opening stanza, SIU led by as many as 17 in the half before taking a 38-23 lead into the halftime break.  The Saluki defense held UE to just 28.1% shooting in the first 20 minutes.

Southern Illinois knocked down another early triple to push the lead to 20 points for the first time.  With SIU up 49-29 at the 13:08 mark, UE worked its way back into the game.  Holding the Salukis to 0-for-5 with three turnovers over the ensuing five minutes, the Aces outscored SIU by a 17-1 margin to get within four.

Pozzato opened the stretch with a triple and, following a Saluki free throw, Comer connected on another triple to cut the deficit to 15.  A deadball technical on Southern Illinois saw Comer convert both free throws while a Josh Hughes layup finished off a 4-point possession as UE made it a 50-41 game.  Hughes added another basket while Gui Tesch picked up a triple to make it a 4-point game.

SIU overcame the rally as they scored the next six tallies to extend the lead back to 10 at 56-46 inside of six minutes remaining.  Despite the deficit, UE cut it in half to get within five, but SIU fended off the challenge to take the win.

Jarrett Hensley and Ali Dibba paced the Salukis with 18 points apiece.  SIU shot 37.5% while holding the Aces to 34.4%.  They also outrebounded UE by a slight 42-39 margin.

Evansville welcomes Bradley on Saturday evening for a nationally televised game on CBS Sports Network.  Tip is set for 7 p.m.