VINCENNES, Ind. – The Vincennes University Lady Trailblazers suffered their first loss of the 2022-23 campaign Friday afternoon in the opening game of the VU Classic at the Physical Education Complex to No. 13-ranked Moberly Area College.

Vincennes got off to a slow start Friday afternoon against the highly rated Greyhounds with Moberly Area scoring 21 of the first 24 points of the game.

Vincennes would hit a couple of late baskets to end the first quarter with a 27-10 deficit.

Moberly Area continued to add pressure in the second quarter with a 25-2 scoring run as VU went into the locker room trailing 61-19 at the break.

VU’s defense picked up out of the locker room with the Blazers closing out the third period with a 9-0 run but still trailed Moberly Area 75-38 heading into the fourth quarter.

Moberly Area firmly put the game away in the fourth with a 13-0 scoring run as Vincennes came away on the losing side for the first time this season by the final score 107-54.

The Lady Blazers were led offensively off the bench by freshman Kennadi Harris (Columbus, Ohio), who ended with 11 points, including a perfect five for five from the free throw line and a pair of steals.

Sophomores Cherrelle Newsom (Indianapolis, Ind.) and Chanice Willis (Champaign, Ill.) finished with nine points each.

Freshman Maycee Lange (Vincennes, Ind.) ended her day with eight points and two rebounds.

VU had big nights defensively off the bench from freshmen Nyre Williams (Indianapolis, Ind.) and Najra Voloder (Konjic, Bosnia). Williams led the Blazers with an impressive six steals, while Voloder picked up a team-high six rebounds, all on the defensive glass.

The Lady Blazers will face another tough challenge tomorrow, Saturday, Nov. 12 at the P.E. Complex, when Vincennes closes out the VU Classic against No. 25-ranked Three Rivers College at 3 p.m. eastern.

Campbellsville JV will take on No. 13 Moberly Area College at 1 p.m. eastern Saturday.

No. 25 Three Rivers defeated Campbellsville JV 105-43 in the second game of the VU Classic Friday afternoon.

EVANSVILLE, Ind. – University of Southern Indiana Women’s Basketball earned an 88-75 victory in front of a loud home crowd at Screaming Eagles Arena Friday night against Western Illinois University, securing a historic first win as an NCAA Division I program against another D-I school.
 
Southern Indiana had a hot start in the first three minutes of the opening quarter, jumping out to a 10-2 lead. Sophomore guard Vanessa Shafford (Linton, Indiana) connected on two baskets before back-to-back threes from senior guard Tori Handley (Jeffersonville, Indiana) and junior guard Lexie Green (Indianapolis, Indiana).
 
After gaining a 21-9 lead after the first quarter, USI’s defense continued to be aggressive, forcing 13 turnovers by Western Illinois within the first 15 minutes of the contest. USI built a 32-13 lead, but midway through the second, Western Illinois went on a 7-0 run in a span of one minute and 25 seconds to cut USI’s advantage down to 12. The Screaming Eagles responded quickly after a called timeout, as Shafford hit a triple to push USI’s lead back to 15 with 5:17 left in the second quarter.
 
Western Illinois came back to within nine of USI with 2:03 left in the first half, but Southern Indiana was able to push it back to double figures before halftime. Senior forward Hannah Haithcock (Washington Courthouse, Ohio) made a solid cut to the basket with 1:28 left in the second, receiving a bounce pass from Shafford for a layup. USI led 41-30 going into the halftime locker room.
 
The Screaming Eagles outrebounded the Leathernecks 18-16 in the first half. USI went 15-31 for 48 percent overall and 5-10 from beyond the arc in the first 20 minutes. Western Illinois shot 12-28 for 43 percent and 3-6 from three. Defensively, USI forced 18 turnovers for 21 points with 10 steals in the first half. The top scorer at the break was Shafford with 12 points on 5-6 shooting.
 
The Leathernecks trimmed USI’s lead down to nine again early in the third quarter, but once again, the Screaming Eagles had a quick answer. Handley followed a two-point shot from Shafford with a three-pointer two minutes into the third to give USI a 14-point advantage. Western Illinois’ redshirt junior guard Jada Thorpe tried to will the Leathernecks back close with eight points in the third quarter at the free throw line, but USI’s Haithcock had a strong quarter of her own, scoring eight points in the third to reach 10 or more points for the 50^th time in her USI career. USI led 61-50 through three periods of play.
 
Haithcock continued her solid second half with a basket and a foul with 8:23 left in the fourth quarter. With USI leading 65-54, the Leathernecks responded with four straight points to bring the game to within seven, the closest Western Illinois had been in the game since USI led 15-8 with 3:40 left in the first quarter.
 
With 6:12 remaining in the fourth, Thorpe made her way to the charity stripe again for Western Illinois, hitting all three free throws in the trip and bringing the Leathernecks to within four of USI 70-66. Southern Indiana had another answer, as a layup from Haithcock and a three-pointer by junior forward Meredith Raley (Haubstadt, Indiana) increased USI’s lead back to nine, 75-66, with 5:42 left in the fourth. Haithcock later followed with another bucket to score her 22^nd point of the game and 20^th of the second half to give USI a 77-67 advantage with 4:39 left to play. Raley and the Screaming Eagles put the finishing touches on the game, as Raley hit two more three-pointers and scored eight points in the last 3:15 to seal an 88-75 win for the Screaming Eagles.
 
Haithcock finished with 22 points, the fifth 20-point outing of her career. She went 8-12 overall and hit six free throws in 27 minutes. Following her eight late points, Raley scored 18 off the bench for USI. Shafford recorded 16 points on 6-8 shooting and five rebounds, while Handley scored 13 with four rebounds and five steals. Also of note, graduate forward Ashlynn Brown (Perrysburg, Ohio) pulled down 10 rebounds and senior guard Soffia Rieckers (Evansville, Indiana) posted seven assists.
 
USI shot 50 percent as a team, going 30-60 from the floor, and hit eight triples. The Screaming Eagles won the rebounding battle 35-28, including 10 offensive boards. USI totaled 22 assists, 15 steals, and 31 points off WIU turnovers. The Leathernecks shot 42 percent, hitting 22 of 52 shots, and made seven threes. Both squads hit over 20 free throws, as USI went 20-27 from the stripe and Western Illinois went 24-31. The Leathernecks’ Thorpe made 14 free throws, missing only one attempt, on her way to 19 points to lead Western Illinois.

USI falls to SIUE, 3-1

Edwardsville, Ill. – University of Southern Indiana Volleyball (1-27, 1-16 OVC) ends the night with a 3-1 loss (17-25, 21-25, 25-23, 15-25) to Southern Illinois University Edwardsville (12-16, 7-10 OVC) Friday night at First Community Arena. Junior outside hitter Leah Anderson (Bloomington, Illinois) had 13 kills and 12 digs while sophomore setter Carly Sobieralski (Indianapolis, Indiana) nabbed 32 assists and 11 digs to produce the two double-doubles for the Screaming Eagles.
 
Strategic runs from SIUE ended with a 25-17 opening-set loss for USI. The Eagles were keeping up with the Cougars until a 5-0 surge spotted SIUE a 10-4 lead. Despite getting a quick point off a service error, USI watched SIUE put up six of the next eight points to extend the lead, 16-7. Junior outside/right side hitter/setter Katherine Koch (Belleville, Illinois) ended the run with one of her three kills in the frame to cut the deficit to eight. Down 21-11, the Eagles put up a 4-0 stint that included three kills by three different players to make it 21-15. However, the Cougars ended the set with back-to-back kills to get the 1-0 match lead. USI could only muster eight kills, their lowest all night.
 
The Cougars gapped the Eagles early to steal the second set, 25-21. USI picked up the first two points of the set off a pair of kills from Koch and sophomore middle hitter Paris Downing (Avon, Indiana). SIUE retaliated by scoring seven of the next eight points to give the Cougars the 7-3 advantage. The Eagles were down 13-9 until a string of SIUE errors put USI back in the lead, 16-14. In that 7-1 stint, the Cougars had five attacking errors while USI had a kill from Downing and a service ace from junior libero/defensive specialist Audrey Crowder (Avon, Indiana). Despite the Eagles’ comeback efforts, the Cougars added a pair of 3-0 runs and some strategic play to score 11 of the final 16 points and take a 2-0 match lead. USI had minimal offensive mistakes in the second frame, producing nine kills with a match-low three errors.
 
Two big USI runs rewarded the Eagles with a third-set victory, 25-23. USI went down 3-0 before the Eagles’ 6-0 run doubled up SIUE, 6-3. The Cougars gained some ground by going up 9-8 after a key 4-0 stint. Down 13-10, USI added its biggest run of the match by going on an 8-1 surge, giving the Eagles the 18-14 advantage. USI produced five kills during that run with Sobieralski earning two of the five kills. A late SIUE comeback forced some panic for USI until a set-ending kill from freshman Bianca Anderson (Chicago Heights, Illinois) gave the Eagles their first win of the match. USI tallied 15 kills in the third frame, the most for USI in the entire match.
 
The Eagles could not get rolling in the final frame, falling 25-15. SIUE held a 4-1 lead before USI cut the deficit to just one. The Cougars would jump out to an enormous 11-3 advantage after a 7-0 run. Down 14-6, the Eagles watch SIUE go on another run, this time 5-0 which made the game 19-6. Despite being down by double-digits, the Eagles put in a last-minute effort with a 7-1 run to make it 23-15 before SIUE iced the cake and won the match.
 
Anderson led both sides of the net for USI, earning her 13th double-double of the season with 13 kills and 12 digs while Koch tallied 11 kills to round out the double-digit kill recipients. Sobieralski recorded 32 assists and 11 digs to notch her 10th double-double of 2022. Also contributing was sophomore outside/right side hitter Abby Bednar (Chagrin Falls, Ohio) who added nine digs, eight kills, three blocks, and three aces while Downing recorded a team-high six blocks.
 
As a team, the Eagles completed the match with 41 kills, 37 assists, and five aces along with 57 digs and nine blocks. The Cougars totaled 56 kills, 56 assists, and six aces with 69 digs and 13 blocks.

VINCENNES, Ind. – The No. 23 Vincennes University Trailblazers were on upset alert with 15 minutes to play Friday night on the opening night of the McDonald’s Classic after falling behind 48-32 to NJCAA Division II No. 5-ranked Macomb Community College.

The Trailblazers rallied back on the home floor to outscore the Monarchs 34-10 in the final 15 minutes of play as VU came away with the 66-58 win.

Vincennes grabbed the momentum early against Macomb, jumping out to a 20-14 lead midway through the first half.

Macomb would respond back with an 8-0 run to take the lead and extend their lead to five points at the break, with VU heading into the locker room down 33-28.

Macomb continued this strong run in the second half, opening up the final 20 minutes of play with a 15-4 run to take a 16-point lead.

Vincennes began to slowly chip away at the deficit, using an 11-0 run to pull within five but the Monarchs responded to hold a 58-52 lead late.

VU again went on the attack and grabbed the momentum back as VU evened the score at 58-all with just over three minutes to play and took the lead with two and a half minutes to play.

The Trailblazers closed out the game on a 14-0 scoring run to pull away late and pick up the 66-58 win over Macomb.

“We found some guys in the last 15 minutes that wanted to fight,” VU Hall of Fame Head Coach Todd Franklin said. “We had to get a little focus and a little fight and that was the difference for us tonight. We spread the floor and went a little smaller with one post in the interior because we weren’t getting what we needed to out of our posts.”

“That was a really good team that we played tonight,” Franklin added. “Macomb is really good. They give you a stylistic approach that is tough. Their point guard is tough. You look at him and you think ‘I don’t know’, he is tough. He battles and fights. They stretch you and back door you with their screens and cuts.”

“I thought, overall, it was a good defensive effort,” Franklin said. “To hold that team to 58 points and to make it tough on them. They shot 38-percent from the field. There are a lot of positives there. We kept their assist numbers down. They are really good at hitting you, breaking you down and hitting back door cuts and hitting the seams to get a lot of assists and we really didn’t give them that. Lost in the fact that we did some things that were sloppy throughout the game, which hurt our defense at times, I thought our defense was pretty good all night when it was allowed to be.”

“We made them grind and I think we wore them down,” Franklin added. “I thought in the last 10 minutes they really felt the intensity of the game. We’ll see how good a win this is by what it propels us to. Like all of these things early, we are trying to learn while we win. We did that tonight. We’ve had really quality opponents so far. Kankakee, Columbia State and Macomb, those are good teams. They are going to win a lot of basketball games this year and they present different challenges. It’s good to be 5-0. It’s good to see our grit when we are pushed up against a wall. It’s good to see that we could find some guys that were willing to fight. But we’ll see how good it is by what our reaction is tomorrow.”

The Blazers were led offensively with a big game off the bench by freshman Michael Osei-Bonsu (Bolingbrook, Ill.) who finished with 16 points and five rebounds.

Sophomores Caleb Johnson (N. Preston, Nova Scotia) and Shilo Jackson (Indianapolis, Ind.) also reached double-figures scoring for VU with Johnson ending with 11 points and three rebounds and Jackson finishing with 10 points, seven rebounds and four blocks.

Freshman Kale Gaither (Madisonville, Ky.) ran the VU offense down the stretch on his way to nine points, six rebounds and a team-high four assists.

Freshman Ryan Oliver (Nashville, Ind.) had a big game off the bench, finishing with seven points and a team-high eight rebounds.

“We opened the floor up late and went with Michael at the post,” Franklin said. “Michael played really well tonight, he just couldn’t quit fouling. He fouled. He would put two hands on you, push, put a hook, all of the things we tell him not to. He has to eliminate them because if Michael had been able to play all night, I thought he was ready to go from the start, you could see it. He only played 12 minutes and got 16 points. I think he would have had a monster night if we had kept him out of foul trouble.”

 

Evansville, In.: Behind a 1-goal, 3-point night for Scott Kirton, the Thunderbolts outshot, outhit, and outscored the Huntsville Havoc, winning 4-1 for their fifth straight win on home ice on Friday night at Ford Center.  The Thunderbolts’ next home game will be on Sunday, November 13^thagainst the Quad City Storm at 3:00pm CT.  For tickets, call (812)422-BOLT (2658), go to EvansvilleThunderbolts.com or visit the Ford Center Ticket Office.

In the first period, Matthew Barron opened the scoring off a net-front bank pass from Brendan Harrogate to give Evansville a 1-0 lead at 9:52, also assisted by Kirton.  Kirton’s goal came just over two minutes later at 12:04, as he redirected a Tanner Butler shot to make it 2-0, with a secondary assist to Felix Sasser.  Early in the second period, Carter Roo scored to put the Havoc on the board, cutting the Thunderbolts lead to 2-1 at the 1:38 mark.  After some big saves by both goaltenders, the Thunderbolts cashed in twice on Havoc penalties, scoring a pair of power play goals to take a 4-1 lead as Fredrik Wink scored at 13:46 from Aaron Huffnagle and Barron, and Butler at 18:26 from Mike Ferraro and Kirton.  Evansville shut down the Havoc in the third period and outshot Huntsville 15-4, but no goals came out of the final frame, as the Thunderbolts rounded out the 4-1 victory.

Kirton led the way with the game-winning goal and two assists, while Butler and Barron scored a goal and assist each, and Wink with one goal. Steeves stopped 19 of 20 shots faced in net for his 5^th win of the season.  These two teams meet again on November 25^th at the Von Braun Center.