VINCENNES, Ind. – The Vincennes University Lady Trailblazers had their offense running in full swing Monday night when VU hosted the Blue Angels of Kaskaskia College.
Sophomores Macy Michels (Teutopolis, Ill.) and Laila Grant (Derwood, Md.), along with freshmen Trinitee Harris (Elkhart, Ind.), Day'Lynn Thornton (Lafayette, Ind.), Cherrelle Newsom (Indianapolis, Ind.) and Chanice Willis (Champaign, Ill.) all scored in double-figures as the Lady Trailblazers came away with the 101-70 win over Kaskaskia.
The first quarter was a back-and-forth battle early, with both sides hitting shots early.
Vincennes used an 11-2 scoring run to close out the first quarter and a Cherrelle Newsom three at the buzzer to take a 10-point lead after the first 10 minutes of play.
Day'Lynn Thornton got the scoring going early for VU, scoring the first seven points for the Lady Trailblazers.
Laila Grant would come through and help close out the first quarter, ending up with 13 points in the opening period.
VU continued to use this momentum in the second quarter, continuing to grow their lead to 15 points before halftime as the Lady Blazers held a 49-34 lead at the break.
Kaskaskia continued to fight in the second half, as the two teams traded scoring runs before Vincennes managed to get their lead back to 15 points heading into the fourth.
The fourth quarter is where Vincennes took their offensive game to another level, using an 11-0 scoring run to grow their largest lead of the day at 33 points.
Kaskaskia would score late to cut the deficit back to the eventual 31 point margin, as Vincennes closed out the 101-70 Region 24 win and snapping VU's three-game losing streak.
"I thought we did a pretty good job defensively," VU Hall of Fame Head Coach Harry Meeks said. "We still have to do a better job of guarding the post, Jaya Hedgepeth had a really great game for Kaskaskia and really showed one of our deficiencies tonight."
"I thought we moved the ball relatively quickly and easily," Meeks added. "We spread the scoring out well with six people scoring in double-digits. I'm just pleased with the way we played. We played with a little more heart and we played with more excitement tonight. The losing streak was starting to ware on me and I think they got that in their heads as well. We worked really hard yesterday coming off the Rend Lake game Saturday and our girls deserved to win this game."
Vincennes was led offensively by Trinitee Harris who came off the bench to score as season-high 23 points on 10 shots, while also dishing out five assists.
Laila Grant finished her night with 17 points, six rebounds and four assists.
Day'Lynn Thornton ended the game with 16 points and four rebounds.
Cherrelle Newsom came away with 15 points, including four three-point makes and a pair of assists.
Macy Michels earned her fourth double-double of the season with 10 points and a season-high 16 rebounds.
Chanice Willis came off the bench to score 10 points and lead the Lady Blazers with six assists and three steals while also grabbing four rebounds.
This game marks the first time Vincennes has surpassed 100 points since March 17, 2021, when the Lady Trailblazers won 110-78 at John A. Logan.
"Laila is really the second point guard on the floor for us," Meeks said. "She does a good job of handling the ball. Her shooting is not quite there yet, but it's getting closer. I love having her on the team. She is a great team-player and always has a smile on her face."
"Trinitee has got a lot of talent," Meeks added. "She can go out and bring the ball up the floor about as fast as anyone. Sometimes she gets a little too wild with the ball and is susceptible to turnovers, that's why she hasn't played as much lately. Tonight, she didn't have many turnovers, scored a tone of points and had a bunch of assists. She's an exciting player to watch and that was the first glimpse of that we've had of her in that position this season."
The Lady Trailblazers next game on the schedule at Olney Central has been postponed for the second time, with no make-up date scheduled yet.
Vincennes must then hope to keep this momentum going until Wednesday, Jan. 26 when VU travels to Centralia, Ill. to take on Kaskaskia College again. Tip-off time is set for 6 p.m. eastern.
"We are going to have to continue to work like we have been," Meeks said. "We've been working really hard lately and we are going to go back to work and work on our offense and defense, especially on blocking out. We're going to continue to work hard. This upcoming game against Kaskaskia starts a point in our season where we begin to see these Region 24 teams a second time. We know pretty much what everybody does, we are just going to have to sharpen our game. It was good tonight to see so many people score offensively and to see our defense start to come around a little bit."
VINCENNES BOX SCORE
VINCENNES (101): Macy Michels 4-7 2-2 10, Day'Lynn Thornton 5-10 4-5 16, Cherrelle Newsom 5-8 1-2 15, Kylee Shelton 1-3 0-0 2, Laila Grant 4-13 8-8 17, Trinitee Harris 8-10 6-8 23, Chanice Willis 4-12 2-2 10, Nina Blade 0-1 0-0 0, Candela Lascorz 1-1 0-0 2, Elena Aznar 0-1 0-0 0, Guadalupe Lopez 0-0 0-0 0, Cristina Requejo 0-1 0-0 0, Anete Bluma 3-3 0-0 6, Team 35-70 23-27 101.
Kaskaskia – 18 16 25 11 – 70
VU (12-7, 5-2) – 28 21 25 27 – 101
Three-point goals: VU 8 (Newsom 4, Thornton 2, Grant, Harris). Rebounds: VU 41 (Michels 16). Assists: VU 20 (Willis 6). Steals: VU 11 (Willis 3, Bluma 3). Blocked Shots: VU 3 (Thornton, Willis, Aznar). Turnovers: VU 13. Personal Fouls: VU 22. Fouled out: None.
