No. 18 Trailblazers continue to roll with big win at McDonald’s Classic

VINCENNES, Ind. – The No. 18 Vincennes University Trailblazers closed out an impressive weekend Saturday night on the final day of the 2024 McDonald’s Classic.

The Trailblazers played host to Kennedy-King College from Chicago and closed out the weekend classic with a strong 88-46 victory over the Statesmen.

Vincennes got going early by building a quick 16-8 advantage before taking firm control of the game by outscoring the Statesmen 21-6 to increase their lead to 37-14 late in the first half.

The Trailblazers continued to apply pressure at the defensive end and held the Statesmen to just 20 points in the opening period, taking a 41-20 lead into the halftime locker room break.

VU would put the game in cruise control midway through the second half after using a big 21-3 scoring run to take a 73-34 lead.

The two teams would trade baskets through the final stretch of the game as Kennedy-King looked to cut into the deficit but ran out of time as Vincennes closed out the 88-46 victory over the Statesmen.

“We did a lot of good things tonight,” VU Hall of Fame Head Coach Todd Franklin said. “There are going to be some spots where things don’t go as great this time of year but I thought our team played well. Some guys didn’t at times and sometimes did. It was a little up and down at times but I thought it was a good effort on our part.”

“We didn’t hit as many threes tonight, that’s fine,” Franklin added. “That’s the way it works sometimes. There were a few times where we got a little bit loose with it but we finished with 13 turnovers so we’re continuing the trek down, we had 16 last night and 13 tonight. For this time of year and the pace that we play, if you are somewhere in the lower teens, it’s not bad.”

“We’ve got some things that we want to continue to get better at,” Franklin said. “But I thought we were pretty good for now. Knowing that that’s not good enough for where we want to get to but nobody is. The whole country is in a race and we’re starting in a pile and it’s who can get somewhere and we got somewhere this week.”

“We improved this week and came together a little bit this week,” Franklin added. “The key for us is continuing it and we’re going to have to by Tuesday because we’ve got a tremendous battle coming up.”

Vincennes spread the scoring out well Saturday night, with freshman Dayton Williams (Louisville, Ky.) being the high man for the Trailblazers with 13 points and five rebounds on the night.

Sophomore Hussein Elmaraghy (Cairo, Egypt) was able to use his size in the low block to finish his night with 11 points and four rebounds, while sophomore Bryan Akanmu (Paris, France) was the third VU scorer in double figures, ending his night with 10 points, five rebounds and three steals.

Sophomore and 2024 NJCAA All-American Lebron Thomas (Bishopville, S.C.) dished out the ball all night, coming away with eight points, six assists and five rebounds.

Freshman Christian Andrews (Asheville, N.C.) matched Thomas for the team-lead in assists Saturday night, coming off the bench to add six points, six assists and three rebounds.

Freshmen Jalen Calloway (Chicago, Ill.) and Travelle Bryson (Anderson, S.C.) each closed out the game with eight points, with Calloway adding four assists and Bryson grabbing a pair of steals.

“I’m excited about the fact that this weekend, we averaged 100 points over these two games and held these two teams down in the low 50s on average and Lebron had 14 points in the two games combined,” Franklin added. “I don’t most people would have thought that we would average 100 over two nights, playing against Division I teams. This tells you that we’ve evolved and we’ve got guys that are stepping up and that’s great.”

“That was trying to get some things where we got everybody in a balanced effort,” Franklin said. “We simplified some things and got some other people involved like I wanted to this weekend. We got Kenaz out there and I think you can see that by March, he could be a load. We got Hussein going. Sometimes when playing time starts to slip away from you, suddenly you can get lower, suddenly your post ups are better. Suddenly you can remember not to dribble that thing and be ready on the catch and score and he was much better. He’s a better player this weekend and a much better player tonight.”

“A couple of other guys didn’t start in the second half,” Franklin added. “Well, those guys played better than you. Around here, you better play and then I think they came in a tried to play a little bit harder and got a little bit better in the second half. So we’re learning that that’s the way we do things and we’re responding fairly well to that. We will have to. But I was proud of them. I thought it was a good effort and I think we’re evolving but we have to continue it.”

“We’re a better ball club now than we were a week ago,” Franklin said. “I think that’s pretty clear if you watch us. We played two good teams last weekend. Last weekend we split against two good teams and that’s about where we were. Played two competitive games that could have gone either way. But I think we’ve gotten better since last week and now we’ll see if we can get better by Tuesday.”

The Trailblazers will look to keep this early season momentum going as they get set for another tough test on the home floor Tuesday, Nov. 12 when VU hosts Henry Ford College at 7 p.m. eastern.

“Henry Ford is really good,” Franklin said. “They are ready to go. Some teams aren’t ready to go right now, Henry Ford is ready to go. They are hitting on cylinders right now. They beat up everybody all preseason in all of the jamborees and played really good teams and then came out and put up 130 on the first night. It’ll be a good test for us and we’re excited about it.”

“In general, across the board, it’s just that what we say, we mean,” Franklin added. “And if they do it, it gives them their best chance. It doesn’t guarantee victory but it gives them their best chance. So do what we are trying to tell you and do it with great intensity. I think we are learning and we’re getting used to it. I think we’re figuring some people out and people are getting a little more comfortable in the right way. You can’t be comfortable that I can just stay out here if I don’t play real hard and well. They will find out that no, I can’t be comfortable with that. I have to be comfortable with keeping my p’s and q’s out there and competing.”

“But we play aggressive version of basketball,” Franklin said. “But we also play a discipline version of basketball. We’re still in the developmental stages of learning it but I think we’re a pretty good basketball team right now and a team that has the potential to be pretty good. We’re playing a lot of young guys that are learning. Jalen, Kenaz, Dayton, Travelle. The first weekend Travelle wasn’t much of a factor. Kenaz wasn’t much of a factor. Jalen wasn’t much of a factor. Well all three of those guys are really talented guys but they are young. They weren’t young guys that just walked in here ready to go. But they are guys that can get that way and as they evolve to get that way we’re going to get a lot better.”

“They evolved some this week and we got better,” Franklin added. “That’s what we are. I just want to see that continue and I want to see us getting hungry and just wanting more and more of it. Really wanting to take it on. I want it, I see it and feel it now. That type of thing. That’s where we are and the team will tell me where we really are as we go along.”

“But we will have a massive challenge on Tuesday and we’ll see how we flip back from this,” Franklin said. “You usually don’t get this Tuesday night flip. Even during the regular season, it will usually be a Wednesday, so it gives you an extra day to work. Well we don’t have that. We play a really good opponent who has been waiting for us for a week. So I’m excited to see how we handle it.”

VINCENNES BOX SCORE

VINCENNES (88): Bryan Akanmu 5-7 0-0 10, Michael Cooper 2-6 2-2 6, Jalen Calloway 3-5 0-0 8, Lebron Thomas 2-4 3-4 8, Dayton Williams 3-7 6-6 113, Christian Andrews 2-7 2-2 6, Meyoh Swansey 2-3 0-0 4, Taveon Smith 0-4 0-0 0, Travelle Bryson 4-7 0-0 8, Darstin Onye 1-1 4-5 6, Kenaz Ochogwu 4-6 0-0 8, Hussein Elmaraghy 5-5 1-2 11, Team 33-62 18-21 88.

Kennedy-King – 20   26 – 46

VU (3-1) – 41   47 – 88

Three-point goals: VU 4 (Calloway 2, L. Thomas, Williams). Rebounds: VU 48 (Cooper 10). Assists: VU 23 (L. Thomas 6, Andrews 6). Steals: VU 8 (Akanmu 3). Blocked Shots: VU 4 (Cooper, Calloway, Swansey, Onye). Turnovers: VU 13. Personal Fouls: VU 16. Fouled out: None.

Lady Trailblazers win big in home opener over Kennedy-King

VINCENNES, Ind. – The Vincennes University Lady Trailblazers got their first chance to play in front of the home fans this season Saturday night hosting Kennedy King College from Chicago on homecoming weekend.

The Lady Blazers got their first win of the season with a big 111-40 victory over the Lady Statesmen, also notching career win number one for VU Interim Head Coach Ingrida Hartsfield.

VU got the game off to a great start, opening the game on a 20-3 scoring run before continuing to roll through the first quarter ending the period with five straight points to lead 29-8 after the first 10 minutes of action.

Vincennes took their game to another level in the second quarter, heading into halftime by outscoring the Lady Statesmen 25-4 to take a commanding 66-15 lead into the halftime break.

The Lady Blazers continued to play tough in the second half, using a 16-2 scoring run to close out the third quarter and increase their lead to 95-28 going into the fourth.

VU worked on their game into the fourth quarter, getting some good game experience down the stretch while closing out the big 111-40 victory over Kennedy-King to secure their first win of the season.

“It was very exciting and I think the girls came ready to play,” VU Interim Head Coach Ingrida Hartsfield said. “They were ready to get that first win too. It was just good to see them pushing the ball, running the floor and just getting used to their true roles. It was good to see them finding their shots and creating the shots and finding their teammates. Playing good defense and getting steals.”

“It’s amazing,” Hartsfield added about securing her first career coaching win. “I will forever remember this night. It was very special and being a former Trailblazers and playing under NJCAA Hall of Famer Harry Meeks. Vincennes is where it all started for me since I came to VU as a player. Vincennes has always been near to my heart and the people in the community that is around is very close to my heart. I just appreciate all of the support. It’s just special. There’s no place like Vincennes.”

The Lady Blazers spread the scoring out well, with all eight players scoring at least eight points and five of VU’s players scoring in double figures on the night.

VU was led by freshman Netala Dixon (Dyersburg, Tenn.) who got the scoring started early with 21 points, all in the first half, to go along with six rebounds and five assists.

Sophomore Kennedy Johnson-Corley (Clarksville, Tenn.) picked up another double-double Saturday night, using a big third quarter scoring run to finish her night with 21 points,13 rebounds and three steals.

Freshman Delora Pricop (Brasov, Romania) was able to use her size inside to come away with 18 points and eight rebounds on the night, while freshman Ahmya Thomas (Phoenix, Ariz.) nearly completed a triple-double coming off the bench, ending the night with 14 points and a team high nine assists and nine steals.

Freshman Yanni Huggins (Belleville, Mich.) was the fifth Lady Trailblazer scorer in double figures, picking up 11 points and three rebounds.

Sophomore Marta Chico (Chabas, Spain) and freshman Kiera Gant (Sellersburg, Ind.) each finished the game with nine points, with Chico adding five rebounds and five steals, while Gant added six assists and four steals.

Freshman Emani Washington (Indianapolis, Ind.) rounded out the Lady Trailblazer box score, finishing with eight points, five assists and four rebounds in the game.

“This week we’ve put a lot of time into being more aggressive,” Hartsfield said. “Being aggressive towards the basket, finding our owns shots and rebounding and boxing out. I think Netala, that’s who she is, she’s a scorer. She filled her role and did her job.”

“Kennedy, these first few games she’s performed well for us every game and her points are quiet,” Hartsfield added. “I had no idea she had 21 points and 13 rebounds. I feel like, for Kennedy, it just comes very naturally. She just finds the ball and of course she can score the ball.”

The Lady Blazers will look to keep this momentum going into their next game when VU travels to Park Hills, Mo. Monday, Nov. 11 to take on Mineral Area College at 2 p.m. eastern.

VU fell to the Lady Cardinals 87-69 to begin the 2024-25 season at the Moberly Area Classic Nov. 1.

“This will definitely be a tough game,” Hartsfield said. “I hope that we can build on what we did tonight and worked on throughout this week. We worked a lot on moving the ball and making the right passes, attacking the basket, being more aggressive and playing better defense. So I hope we can just build on that and use our strengths of being fast and getting steals and I believe they will. Today was a good booster for them to keep going.”

VINCENNES BOX SCORE

VINCENNES (111): Delora Pricop 8-14 1-2 18, Marta Chico 4-11 0-0 9, Kiera Gant 3-6 1-1 9, Netala Dixon 9-15 2-3 21, Kennedy Johnson-Corley 9-14 2-3 21, Ahmya Thomas 4-7 5-5 14, Yanni Huggins 5-8 0-2 11, Emani Washington 2-4 2-2 8, Team 44-79 13-18 111.

Kennedy-King – 8   7   13   12 – 40

VU (1-2) – 29   37   29   16 – 111

Three-point goals: VU 10 (Washington 2, Gant 2, Pricop, Chico, Dixon, Johnson-Corley, Thomas, Huggins). Rebounds: VU 44 (Johnson-Corley 13). Assists: VU 32 (Thomas 9). Steals: VU 27 (Thomas 9). Blocked Shots: VU 8 (Gant 2, Washington 2). Turnovers: VU 24. Personal Fouls: VU 19. Fouled out: None.