VINCENNES, ind. – The Vincennes University men’s bowling team eagerly awaited their Sectional placement for the 2024 United State Bowling Congress (USBC) Intercollegiate Team Championships (ITC) Sectional draw.

The Trailblazers earned a spot on the Smyrna Sectional hosted at Smyrna Bowling Center in Smyrna, Tenn.

The 2024 USBC Sectionals will begin Friday, March 8 with the Intercollegiate Singles Championship (ISC) qualifier, where members of the VU bowling team will compete in six singles games, with 24 bowlers advancing to the 2024 ISC finals. The top four from each Sectional and eight additional individuals based on field size.

The Team Championship qualifiers will begin Saturday, March 9 and conclude Sunday, March 10 and will consist of 64 baker games, with the top four teams from each Sectional advancing to the ITC Championships April 17 through the 20th at Kingpin Lanes in Louisville, Ky. to compete for the Helmer Cup.

VINCENNES, Ind. – The Vincennes University Trailblazers were looking for a bounce back win in a big way Wednesday night after falling in overtime on the road last Saturday and falling to No. 8 in this week’s NJCAA Division I National Rankings.

The Trailblazers came out looking to make a statement against the Southwestern Illinois College Blue Storm inside the Physical Education Complex and were able to come away with a very strong wire-to-wire 88-57 win.

Vincennes got off to a quick start Wednesday night, jumping out to a 9-2 lead early in the game.

VU would continue to grow this lead, increasing the advantage to double digits with six unanswered points to take a 29-15 lead.

The Trailblazers finished the first half strong, even after a SWIC basket at the buzzer, with the Blazers holding a big 46-31 lead at the break.

Vincennes looked to put the game on cruise control early in the second half, using a 10-0 scoring run to grow the lead to 67-39 midway through the second half.

SWIC would look to make a late comeback with an 8-0 scoring run but were only able to cut the Trailblazer lead down to 21 before the Blazers answered back with a 7-0 run to put the game away.

Vincennes emptied the bench and closed out a very strong 88-57 victory over the Blue Storm.

“I thought we were going to play well coming into tonight,” VU Hall of Fame Head Coach Todd Franklin said. “I told our guys after practice yesterday that this is the best I’ve felt about our team all year long. I thought we practiced better. Across the eyes you could see it, you could feel it a little bit. We had to come to terms with what happened Saturday and those things have been happening all year. But this time, I thought our guys needed to come to terms with it and I thought we were in a good place.”

“We moved Dink into the lineup and hoped that he could open up some things and I thought he did,” Franklin added. “We moved some people around. I had Kris playing mostly as a stretch four to help open the floor up. Those things happened, so I thought it was a good effort on our part. We’ll have to have a better effort on Saturday.”

The Trailblazers were led by a career night by freshman Damarien Yates (Somerville, Tenn.) who connected on six three’s, the most by a VU player this season, on his way to a career-high 24 points on the night.

Freshman Lebron Thomas (Bishopville, S.C.) ended his night with 12 points and five rebounds, while sophomore guard Kent King (Washington, D.C.) got the Trailblazer offense going early, hitting three of three from behind the arc in the first half to finish with 11 points, five assists and four rebounds.

Sophomore Victor Lado (Louisville, Ky.) came off the bench to score in double figures for just the seventh time in his VU career, ending his night with 11 points and five rebounds.

Sophomore Kris King (Washington, D.C.) was the fifth VU scorer in double-figures, coming off the bench to add 10 points, seven rebounds and three assists.

Sophomore Michael Osei-Bonsu (Bolingbrook, Ill.) battled foul trouble all night but responded to hit every shot he took, connecting all three field goal attempts and hitting an and-one free throw to finish with seven points and nine rebounds in just 12 minutes of action.

Sophomore Ryan Oliver (Antioch, Tenn.) also had a big all-around game finishing with a team-high nine rebounds, seven assists, three steals and five points.

“I thought Dink was aggressive tonight,” Franklin said. “He shot a number of shots out there that went in. We hope he keeps doing it again on Saturday. He’s talented, that’s why we moved him into the lineup. We’ve been moving him over to the three spot these last few weeks trying to get him ready for this, felt like it was time and he played well.”

“It was a shame to not get to see Michael play a whole lot,” Franklin added. “I thought he was effective when he played. I got my first technical because Michael starts the game with two fouls in the first minute when he’s trying not to touch anybody. We took the ball to the basket on the other end with no call when there was a lot more contact there than Michael had and I think Michael gets fouled all the time.”

Aces set for final two home games

 EVANSVILLE, Ind. – Ben Humrichous scored 20 while Kenny Strawbridge Jr. added 14 on Wednesday as the University of Evansville men’s basketball team dropped an 88-79 game to UIC inside Credit Union 1 Arena.

Humrichous was 7-of-12 from the field and connected on all four free throw tries.  He added six assists, six rebounds and two steals.  Strawbridge added four assists and two steals.  Chuck Bailey III recorded 13 points as he converted six of his nine attempts.  Hitting all four 3-point tries, Gage Bobe tallied 12 points.  UIC was led by Isaiah Rivera’s 25 points.

Gage Bobe got things started with a three before Ben Humrichous connected from outside to put UE on top by a score of 8-5.  UE slowly added to its lead as Cam Haffner posted a pair of field goals to help the Aces take their largest lead of the half at 17-9 at the 13:35 mark.

UIC rallied back with seven in a row before Haffner put an end to it with a triple that was made possible by a Humrichous offensive board.  The Flames rallied to tie it up at 20-20 before Evansville regained control.  Inside the 5-minute mark, Bobe knocked down his second triple to solidify a 31-25 lead.  Chuck Bailey III converted a 3-point play just over a minute later to reestablish a 6-point advantage at 36-30.

Over the final 3:26 of the period, UIC made its way back, scoring the final six points to tie the game at halftime.  Their defense clamped down, holding UE to 0-for-3 while forcing four turnovers in the final moments of the period.

On its first possession of the second half, UIC took its first lead of the evening at 38-36.  Kenny Strawbridge Jr. quickly put the Purple Aces back in front, countering with a triple on the other side of the floor.  Strawbridge recorded UE’s first nine points of the half to give his team a 45-43 edge.  Multiple lead changes ensued before Evansville was able to take a 2-possession edge.

With the Aces down 54-53, Humrichous hit two free throws to put his team back on top.  His layup with 8:05 remaining pushed the lead to five at 61-56.  Evansville remained up five when a turnaround jumper by Humrichous made it a 63-58 score.  The Flames used the next two minutes to go on an 12-4 run to retake a 70-67 lead with 4:37 remaining.  UIC converted four triples in less than two minutes.

UIC’s run continued as they extended the lead to a game-high nine points (78-69) with less than two minutes left.  During their run, the Flames hit eight out of ten field goal tries.  Entering the final minute, Bobe nailed his fourth triple in as many attempts to chop the deficit to six.  That would be as close as UE would get in the final seconds as the Flames clinched the 88-79 win.

Both teams shot exceptionally well with UE finishing at 52.5% while the Flames shot 51.9%.  UIC picked up a 30-27 rebounding nod.  Evansville will be back inside the Ford Center to welcome Southern Illinois on Sunday at 1 p.m.

VINCENNES, Ind. – The Vincennes University Lady Trailblazers partnered again with the Kay Yow Cancer Fund Wednesday night to host the annual Play 4 Kay game at Vincennes University.

The Lady Blazers were boosted by a big double-double by sophomore Elikya Baseyila (Paris, France) who’s 16 points and 16 rebounds pushed the Lady Blazers to a big 101-76 victory over Southwestern Illinois College.

Vincennes got off to a good start Wednesday night, quickly building a 16-10 advantage over the Lady Blue Storm before SWIC battled back to even the game at 19-19.

The score would remain tied until the Lady Blazers closed out the first quarter of play on an 8-2 scoring run to take a 29-23 lead after the first 10 minutes of play.

VU continued to add on in the second quarter, outscoring the Lady Blue Storm 14-2 to increase the lead to double digits and later using another 7-0 scoring run to build the largest lead of the half at 55-35.

SWIC would answer back before half but were only able to cut three points off the Vincennes lead before the break, with VU leading 55-38 at halftime.

Vincennes looked to fully take control of the game in the second half, using six straight points to grow their lead to 69-43 midway through the third quarter and holding a 76-53 lead heading into the fourth after a SWIC basket at the buzzer.

The two teams traded baskets for most of the fourth quarter with SWIC unable to put together a big scoring run to shrink the VU lead.

The Lady Blazers cruised down the final stretch of the game as VU picked up the 101-76 victory, surpassing the century mark for the seventh time this season.

Vincennes was led offensively by sophomore Elikya Baseyila who picked up a monster double-double, her ninth of the season and 21st of her VU career.

Baseyila ended the game with 16 points and 16 rebounds, as well as a team-high three blocks on the evening.

Freshman Destinee Hooks (Indianapolis, Ind.), who earned NJCAA Division I Player of the Week honors Wednesday morning, successfully defended this honor with another strong performance with 18 points, six rebounds and a team-high seven assists. Hooks also ended with three steals and a pair of blocks.

Freshman Giavonnie Belton (Indianapolis, Ind.) came off the bench to add 15 points and a pair of steals, while fellow freshman Karina Scott (Noblesville, Ind.) ended her night with 13 points, four assists and a team-high four steals.

Sophomore Najra Voloder (Konjic, Bosnia) had a big game off the bench for the Lady Blazers, scoring a season-high 11 points and just missing out on a double-double with eight rebounds.

Freshman Makyla Tucker (Indianapolis, Ind.) came off the bench to finish with nine points and six assists, while sophomores Brie Miller (Bainbridge, Ind.) and Katrina Litte (Valmiera, Latvia) each ended with eight points. Miller adding four rebounds, while Litte finished with four assists and three steals.

The Lady Trailblazers will return to the Physical Education Complex floor this weekend for the final time during the 2023-24 season when VU hosts Olney Central College Saturday, Feb. 24 at 5 p.m. eastern on Sophomore Night.

Vincennes defeated the Lady Blue Knights 83-73 earlier this season in Olney behind 20 points, nine rebounds and six steals by Destinee Hooks.

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – No. 6-ranked Indiana swimming and diving set two program record as part of its second-straight 800-yard freestyle relay conference title Wednesday (Feb. 21) night at the 2024 Big Ten Women’s Swimming and Diving Championships. The Hoosiers earned two medals on the opening night of the conference meet.

Junior Anna Peplowski lead off Indiana’s 800 freestyle relay in 1:42.04, breaking her own 200-yard freestyle relay program record set during IU’s dual meet against Louisville and Wisconsin earlier this month. Senior Ella Ristic followed in 1:44.85, junior Ching Hwee Gan swam the third leg in 1:45.04 and sophomore Kristina Paegle closed in 1:43.52.

IU crushed the previous program standard (6:58.44) by just under three seconds, set at last year’s conference championships featuring three of the same athletes – Ristic replaced graduated Mackenzie Looze. The Hoosiers were also 5.63 seconds better than their midseason time of 7:01.08, the previous season best set by the same crew. Indiana also set the No. 4 time in the country this season.

“We had an awesome first night,” IU head swimming coach Ray Looze said. “Congratulations to our 800 freestyle relay. They got the win, destroyed the school record and almost got the pool record too. The good thing is everybody on that relay had the bare minimum of preparation. Most of our top swimmers just started to cut back either Saturday, if not Monday, of this week. So that’s nice to win a conference title like that.”

The Hoosiers went 2-for-2 on the medal table in Wednesday’s relays, picking up bronze in the 200-yard medley relay with a season-best 1:35.81. Juniors Kacey McKenna (23.70 split) and Brearna Crawford (27.12) led things off, giving way to sophomore Chiok Sze Yeo (23.68) and senior Ashley Turak (21.41). It marks the sixth-fastest 200 medley relay in program relay and IU’s quickest since 2019.

“I thought the medley relay, probably our best could have gotten second,” Looze said. “I think nerves were there, and that can happen in the first event. They’re into the meet now, so I’m looking forward to how all four of those ladies swim the rest of the meet.”

Through two events, Indiana leads the field with 118 points, followed by No. 8 Ohio State’s 116 and No. 16 Michigan’s 112.

The Big Ten trailed a team diving exhibition between the relays for a second-straight season. Three divers from each squad executed a total of six dives, two from each board.

“The team event was awesome today,” IU head diving coach Drew Johansen said. “It’s a new event that we hope to see scored as maybe a relay in the future. I thought our girls did great. We had our two freshmen in there really learning what it’s like to be in a Big Ten final and that energy and environment, and I know that they’re going to use that in the next three days when the points do matter. I was really pleased with the team event and hope to see it continue in the Big Ten.”

TEAM SCORES
1. Indiana – 118

2. Ohio State – 116
3. Michigan – 112
4. Wisconsin – 106
5. Northwestern – 100
6. Penn State – 96
7. Nebraska – 88
8. Purdue – 86
9. Illinois – 78
10. Iowa – 72
11. Rutgers – 64
12. Penn State – 34

    RESULTS
    200 MEDLEY RELAY
    3. Kacey McKenna, Brearna Crawford, Chiok Sze Yeo, Ashley Turak – 1:35.81 (NCAA A Cut)

    800 FREESTYLE RELAY
    1. Anna Peplowski, Ella Ristic, Ching Hwee Gan, Kristina Paegle – 6:55.45 (NCAA A Cut, Program Record)

    Hoosiers Rip Program Records on Opening Night of Big Ten Championships

     

    Hoosiers Rip Program Records on Opening Night of Big Ten Championships