Lady Trailblazers drop home showdown with Mineral Area College

VINCENNES, Ind. – The Vincennes University Lady Trailblazers hit the hardwood for the first time after the Thanksgiving holiday break Saturday afternoon for their third meeting with the Lady Cardinals of Mineral Area College.

The Lady Blazers fought hard but ultimately fell to the Lady Cardinals 83-58 inside the Physical Education Complex.

The game got off to a slow start after the holiday break with defense shining the most in the opening quarter.

Vincennes was able to jump in front with a 12-2 scoring run and hold a 14-11 lead over Mineral Area after the opening 10 minutes of action.

The Lady Cardinals came back firing in the second quarter however, using a 9-0 scoring run and a 10-0 scoring run in the second quarter to grab the lead back and head into the locker room break with a 37-25 advantage over the Lady Blazers.

Coming out of the halftime break Vincennes looked to cut into the Mineral Area lead and were able to build some momentum with six straight points midway through the third period before the Lady Cardinals closed out the third quarter strong to take a 56-41 lead into the final 10 minutes.

The Lady Cardinals were able to maintain their lead throughout the fourth quarter, pulling away late and cruising down the stretch as Mineral Area capped off an 83-58 victory over the Lady Trailblazers.

"The first quarter was promising," VU Interim Head Coach Ingrida Hartsfield said. "The rest of the game was just poor effort. It all goes back to rebounding, boxing out and defense and again that all goes back to effort. You have to be able to box out, fight for the ball and play defense."

VU was led offensively by another big double-double by freshman Delora Pricop (Satu Mare, Romania) who finished with 14 points, 11 rebounds and four assists, securing her fourth double-double of the season.

Freshman Netala Dixon (Dyersburg, Tenn.) had a strong second half, finishing her night with 11 points, three rebounds, three assists and three steals.

Freshman Ahmya Thomas (Phoenix, Ariz.) was the third Lady Blazer scorer in double figures, finishing the game with 10 points, five rebounds, four assists and three steals.

Freshman Jazmyn Robey (Sellersburg, Ind.) made her Lady Blazer debut, coming away with seven points and two rebounds in her first collegiate game.

"I think Ahmya Thomas was probably about the only one who gave good effort on both sides of the floor," Hartsfield added. "Delora did have a double-double but there were a lot of missed layups and a lot of rebounds given up that allowed her matchup to score more than she should have tonight."

The Lady Trailblazers will look to regroup and rebound when they hit the floor next week for another tough showdown, this time against the No. 4-ranked Lady Raiders of Three Rivers Community College.

VU will take on the Lady Raiders Wednesday, Dec. 4, with tip-off scheduled for 5 p.m. eastern and will be Faculty and Staff Appreciation Night at the P.E. Complex.

"I hope that we can come together and all together have heart in what we are doing," Hartsfield said. "Defense and rebounding and effort as well as just playing together on offense with more execution. The game we played at Three Rivers, it again all came down to effort and rebounds and for some reason we just cannot get that down."

VINCENNES BOX SCORE

VINCENNES (58): Iris Comesana 2-3 0-0 4, Delora Pricop 6-15 1-4 14, Ahmya Thomas 4-12 2-8 10, Marta Gutierrez 3-6 0-0 6, Netala Dixon 3-9 5-7 11, Jazmyn Robey 2-7 3-3 7, Yanni Huggins 0-1 0-0 0, Emani Washington 3-9 0-0 6, Team 23-62 11-22 58.

Mineral Area – 11   26   19   27 – 83

VU (3-6) – 14   11   16   17 – 58

Three-point goals: VU 1 (Pricop). Rebounds: VU 32 (Pricop 11). Assists VU 17 (Pricop 4, Thomas 4, Gutierrez 4). Steals: VU 9 (Thomas 3, Dixon 3). Blocked Shots: VU 5 (Pricop 2). Turnovers: VU 14. Personal Fouls: VU 23. Fouled out: Pricop, Robey.