No. 7 Trailblazers go wire to wire in Region 24 win over Wabash Valley College

VINCENNES, Ind. – The No. 7 ranked Vincennes University Trailblazers returned home for the first time since February 8th as the Blazers faced off against a tough Region 24 rival in Wabash Valley College from Mt. Carmel, Ill.

The Trailblazers were able to build a big early lead thanks to some outstanding first half defense and ride the momentum through a tough, physical second half as the Blazers picked their 19th straight victory by the final score of 70-52.

Vincennes opened the game strong in front of a big home crowd on Good Samaritan Night and Blaze to a Community Cure Cancer Awareness Night inside the P.E. Complex.

The Trailblazers defense caused the Warriors problems for most of the first half, with Wabash Valley only connecting on two field goals and scoring eight points in the first 15 minutes of action.

VU was able to capitalize on this tough defense and open a big 23-8 lead on the offensive end of the floor.

The Warriors were able to get their offense going late in the first half but were unable to cut the VU lead back down to single digits before halftime as the Trailblazers headed to the locker room holding a 33-22 advantage.

The two teams opened the second half going back and forth, trading baskets before the Trailblazers broke away again with a 14-3 scoring run to take a 60-37 lead.

Wabash Valley battled and looked to work their way back into the game but the Trailblazers were able to run the clock late in the second half and cruise down the stretch at the free throw line.

Vincennes closed out the game strong, leading the game from tip to buzzer and closing out their 19th consecutive victory on the season by the final score of 70-52.

“This was just a tough, grind it game,” VU Hall of Fame Head Coach Todd Franklin said. “Wabash is playing really hard right now, they are coming off of three blowout wins in a row and Coach has done a good job with them. They are based on defense and they are going to grind you on offense. They are going to try to get you caught on screens and curls and rescreens just to see if you can handle that.”

“The pressured the whole time and try to get you out of your game,” Franklin added. “They are willing to play hard and they are. I thought our team did a pretty good job. We had too many turnovers. It wasn’t that we were getting forced into it from the press, we were able to see that and break it, we just had too many turnovers. That’s how the game stayed close when you look at everything else. We outrebounded them really badly. Defensively we were good. We shot a good percentage, we just turned it over too many times. That’s the difference between really expanding it and running away. But give Wabash Valley credit, they played hard and when teams play hard against you, you are more apt to turn it over and that’s exactly what happened.”

VU was led offensively by a big game on the low block by sophomore Bryan Akanmu (Paris, France), who finished off his fourth double-double of the season with 15 points and 13 rebounds, while also dishing out four assists.

Freshman Travelle Bryson (Anderson, S.C.) was the next leading scorer, scoring in double figures for the eighth time this season with 13 points, four rebounds and two assists.

Sophomore Hussein Elmaraghy (Cairo, Egypt) was the third VU scorer in double figures, finishing his night with 12 points and six rebounds.

Sophomore Michael Cooper (Minneapolis, Minn.) came off the bench Saturday night and added eight points and four rebounds to his totals.

“Obviously Lebron is still not playing at 100-percent,” Franklin said. “So that makes it even more that we are going to get the ball inside. There was not as much downhill action that he is going to get. He did a good job, his back is just a little tender right now. We’ve got one more game on Tuesday and then we will have almost a full week to get ready for the District Tournament.”

“So it was important tonight that Hussein and Bryan had good games,” Franklin added. “Kenaz had some moments and Ali, when you add those two together, you get another double figure effort. When you put Hussein, Ali and Kenaz altogether, tonight you get a big night out of the five spot. Bryan and Michael you can put them together. They played together, especially when it got later and they were going to go more stretch. But when you really look at it and you break it down that way, those guys numbers were really pretty good.”

“We’ve got to get a little bit more consistently from our wings,” Franklin said. “Travelle had some moments. I thought Dayton guarded, particularly early. But we’ve got to hit the gaps and with Lebron being a little bit tender, he’s not hitting the gaps quite as hard. But we got a couple of outside shots to fall and that helped get us up to 20 or 22 and from there we just grinded. We were running some clock late and we did a fairly good job of that. We probably could have scored a few more points tonight if we weren’t doing that but I thought that was the right way to play the game down the stretch.”

“It’s a grind it game and it’s a good game to play right now,” Franklin added. “It will help you get sharpened up for the postseason. That’s much more what a postseason type game is going to be. It’s a grind, it’s tough, it’s hard, physical, they are going to play hard against you and the team that handles that the best is going to win and the majority of the games in the postseason are that way.”

“I thought we did a good job during that stretch in the second half where we took it from 10 to 20 or 22,” Franklin said. “Most of that was off of good defense. We got stops defensively, got into some transitions and I thought that was the difference. We just need to cut those 20 turnovers back down to the 10 we have been around and in a game like this you have to be even tougher minded to do it. That’s something we will take from tonight and learn from it and if we can do that, then we are going to score more in the 80’s and everything else will be about equal.”

The Trailblazers will look to close out the regular season strong as they get set for the regular season finale Tuesday, March 4 inside the Physical Education Complex on Sophomore Night.

VU will host Kaskaskia College Tuesday night, with tip-off scheduled for 7 p.m. eastern.

“We’ve got to be a little bit tougher, lower and just a little bit more intense everywhere,” Franklin said. “Most of our turnovers were just a little bit less of the nasty and intensity that you need at this time. That’s what caused them. It wasn’t anything else or our inability to handle something but you have to give credit to Wabash because they asked the question all night. They made you have to play at a certain level all night. They made you have to play a little quicker and harder maybe than you wanted to. They really weren’t giving a whole lot of things easy, so that’s something that we will take from this and see if we can’t get sharpened up.”

“It’s a short turnaround going from tonight to Tuesday,” Franklin added. “We don’t really have anybody that hurt right now, but we’ve got some owies. That’s just what we have and they are real. We have to practice tomorrow because of the short turnaround and also you want to get the lactic acid and things out of your system, so you need to get out here and move so you are not as sore. We’ll do that tomorrow and sharpen up on Monday and be ready to go. We’ll look at Kaskaskia a little bit but mostly it’s about us just staying in who we are.”

“But we’ve got a big deal in here on Tuesday night,” Franklin added. “People need to come out. It’s sophomore night, it’s the last time that you are going to see these players in here and they are going for the undefeated District record. There is less than five teams that have ever done that so it’s rare. They have an opportunity to do that Tuesday night and I can’t imagine if we win Tuesday night that we haven’t pretty much punched our ticket to Hutch. Finishing the regular season in the top six or seven in the country, when it’s over, it’s hard not to imagine you being one of those teams if you needed an at large that you would get it.”

“That’s one of our goals every year,” Franklin said. “Our goal is to win the District, be playing our best basketball at the end and try to see if by the time the regular season ends do we really feel like we’ve done enough that we will be at Hutch by then. Then we want to go into the District Tournament, obviously wanting to win the District Tournament and then seeing if we can’t improve our seed or get a bye. Our regular season goals, I think we can pretty much nail them all Tuesday night if we come out here and take care of business.”

VINCENNES BOX SCORE

VINCENNES (70): Bryan Akanmu 5-14 5-6 15, Travelle Bryson 4-9 5-6 13, Hussein Elmaraghy 5-7 2-3 12, Lebron Thomas 0-1 0-0 0, Dayton Williams 2-4 0-0 5, Christian Andrews 0-0 0-0 0, Meyoh Swansey 1-3 0-0 2, Jalen Calloway 0-0 2-2 2, Taveon Smith 1-1 1-1 3, Michael Cooper 2-4 3-3 8, Ali Sakho 1-1 2-2 4, Kenaz Ochogwu 3-4 0-0 6, Team 24-48 20-23 70.

Wabash Valley – 22   30 – 52

VU (25-3, 15-0) – 33   37 – 70

Three-point goals: VU 2 (Williams, Cooper). Rebounds: VU 43 (Akanmu 13). Assists: VU 20 (Thomas 5, Williams 5). Steals: VU 7 (Williams 2). Blocked Shots: VU 0. Turnovers: VU 20. Personal Fouls: VU 17. Fouled out: Elmaraghy.

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The No. 7-ranked Vincennes University Trailblazers improve to 25-3 on the season, with a 15-0 record in Region 24 play.

Lady Blazers drop regular season finale to No. 5 Wabash Valley College

VINCENNES, Ind. – The Vincennes University Lady Trailblazers closed out their 2024-25 regular season Saturday night with another Region 24 showdown with No. 5 ranked Wabash Valley College from Mt. Carmel, Ill.

The Lady Blazers battled all night against the highly rated Lady Warriors but were unable to overcome an early deficit as VU fell by the final score 87-67.

Vincennes had to play from behind early as Wabash Valley came out of the gates firing by scoring the first seven points and quickly building a 15-5 lead.

The Lady Blazers were able to battle back and close out the first quarter strong, cutting the Lady Warrior lead to 21-13 after the first 10 minutes of play.

Wabash Valley continued to add pressure to the Lady Blazers in the second quarter, opening the second period on a 20-8 run and taking a 44-26 lead into the halftime break.

The Lady Blazers fought back early in the second half, using a 10-2 run to cut the WVC lead down to 48-36, before Wabash Valley responded with a 19-2 run of their own.

VU responded back before the end of the third quarter, finishing a high-scoring period on a 7-1 run and building momentum going into the fourth quarter.

Wabash Valley looked to be in cruise control early in the fourth quarter with a 9-0 run giving them an 82-50 lead but the Lady Blazers were not going to go away quietly.

VU continued to battle all the way to the final horn, using a 15-3 scoring run to cut the deficit back to 20 but unfortunately ran out of time to complete the big fourth quarter comeback as Wabash Valley closed out the game 87-67.

The Lady Trailblazers were led offensively by a monster game by freshman Delora Pricop (Satu Mare, Romania) who secured her 15th double-double of the season with 21 points and a season-high 21 rebounds.

Sophomore Marta Gutierrez (Alicante, Spain) put on a show for the home crowd on Sophomore Night inside the P.E. Complex, finishing her night with 19 points, seven rebounds and seven assists.

Freshman Emani Washington (Indianapolis, Ind.) was the third VU double-figures scorer Saturday night, finishing with 19 points, six rebounds and three assists.

The Lady Trailblazers will begin postseason play Sunday, March 9 inside the Physical Education Complex as VU hosts the Quarterfinals of the 2025 NJCAA Division I Region 24 Tournament.

Tip-off time for this game will be 3 p.m. eastern, with VU’s opponent still to be determined.

VINCENNES BOX SCORE

VINCENNES (67): Delora Pricop 8-20 4-4 21, Ahmya Thomas 1-13 1-2 3, Jazmyn Robey 2-7 0-0 4, Marta Gutierrez 6-13 4-6 19, Emani Washington 8-11 0-0 19, Iris Comesana 0-0 0-0 0, Netala Dixon 0-6 1-2 1, Team 25-70 10-14 67.

Wabash Valley – 21   23   29   14 – 87

VU (16-14, 10-4) – 13   13   20   21 – 67

Three-point goals: VU 7 (Gutierrez 3, Washington 3, Pricop). Rebounds: VU 44 (Pricop 21). Assists: VU 20 (Thomas 7, Gutierrez 7). Steals: VU 7 (Thomas 4). Blocked Shots: VU 2 (Pricop 2). Turnovers: VU 24. Personal Fouls: VU 18. Fouled out: None.

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The Vincennes University Lady Trailblazers fall to 16-14 on the season, with a 10-4 record in Region 24 play.

USI splits Saturday slate at Winthrop Tournament

ROCK HILL, S.C. – University of Southern Indiana Softball split its two games at the Winthrop University Coach Cooke Memorial Tournament on Saturday, falling 4-1 to the University of South Carolina Upstate before capturing an 8-3 win over St. Bonaventure University.

Southern Indiana (3-10) began the morning against USC Upstate (17-2). The Spartans got the scoring started in the bottom of the second inning with a small-ball approach, scoring two runs on three singles and two stolen bases.

While USI got a few baserunners on in the early innings, the Eagles could not quite get momentum building toward a scoring threat. Meanwhile, freshman pitcher Kylie Witthaus settled in following the two-run second by the Spartans.

After Southern Indiana could not capitalize with runners at second and third in the top of the fifth inning, USC Upstate took advantage with two more runs toward a 4-0 lead off of three more singles in the frame and ending the start for Witthaus.

USI looked to rally in the seventh inning, getting the first batters to reach base and over to second and third with one out. An RBI groundout by sophomore outfielder Kate Satkoski got one runner home, but that was all USI could get.

Freshman first baseman Lilly Brown had two of USI’s three hits against the Spartans. Witthaus (0-5) was dealt the loss after giving up four runs in 4.2 innings with a pair of strikeouts.

USC Upstate tallied its four runs on seven hits. Sophomore pitcher Sierra Maness (7-1) recorded the win in a complete-game effort.

In the second game against St. Bonaventure (3-4), Southern Indiana found itself with some first-inning production after some tough breaks already this season in the first inning. Sophomore infielder Sydney Long doubled in USI’s first run after a leadoff single. Senior pitcher Josie Newman later scored Long with an RBI single to put USI ahead 2-0.

The Screaming Eagles tacked on two more runs in the second inning and had its biggest inning with three runs in the third inning. USI got an RBI single by junior outfielder Caroline Stapleton before Long ripped a two-RBI triple down the line to increase USI’s lead to 7-0. All three runs in the third came with two outs.

The Bonnies tried to chip away at the Eagles’ advantage. St. Bonaventure scored twice in the bottom of the fourth on a two-run triple of their own. The two sides traded a run in the sixth, as Southern Indiana closed out the win.

USI posted eight runs on 12 hits. Stapleton accounted for three hits and three runs with an RBI from the leadoff the spot. Long went 4-4 with three RBIs. Brown had another two-hit game with a pair of runs.

Newman (3-4) also recorded the pitching win, going the full seven innings with 10 strikeouts and three runs allowed.

St. Bonaventure registered its three runs on nine hits. The Bonnies used three pitchers in the game with starting freshman pitcher Nolah Moyer (1-2) getting the loss after surrendering four runs – three earned – in an inning and a third.

Southern Indiana wraps up its weekend at the Winthrop Coach Cooke Memorial Tournament on Sunday at 9 a.m. against Youngstown State University. After splitting Friday’s games and Saturday’s games, USI seeks a victory on Sunday to go over .500 for the tournament. The Spin 95.7 FM will have radio coverage of Sunday’s game. Additional coverage links can be found at usiscreamingeagles.com.