Five Lady Blazers score in double figures in Region 24 win at John A. Logan

CARTERVILLE, Ill. – The VU Lady Trailblazers extended their winning streak to five after winning 85-63 over the Lady Vols of John A. Logan College Wednesday night.

Five Lady Trailblazers, Cherrelle Newsom (Indianapolis, Ind.), Laila Grant (Derwood, Md.), Nina Blade (Milwaukee, Wis.), Kylee Shelton (Bloomfield, Ind.) and Elena Aznar (Zaragoza, Spain) scored in double figures as VU spread out their scoring attack to beat the host Lady Volunteers.

VU got off to another slow start Wednesday night as the hometown John A. Logan squad opened the game on a 7-0 scoring run.

Like Monday night's game against Southwestern Illinois, the Lady Trailblazers rallied back to take the lead before the end of the first quarter, using a 12-2 scoring run to capture the lead and hold a 20-16 advantage after the first 10 minutes of play.

The Lady Vols held tough in the second quarter with VU holding a two point lead midway through the period.

Vincennes would outscore John A. Logan 17-5 to close out the first half and head into the locker room with a 44-30 lead.

Sophomore Elena Aznar (Zaragoza, Spain) helped get the Lady Blazers going early, setting a new season-high with 11 points all in the first half.

Vincennes continued to add to their lead in the third, growing the lead to 20 points late in the third quarter before Logan answered with a basket to cut the deficit to 18 points heading into the fourth.

The Lady Trailblazers kept building on their lead throughout the game, reaching their biggest lead of 25 points late in the fourth, as VU closed out their 10th Region 24 win of the season and their fifth straight 85-63.

"We had to work really hard offensively to score our points," VU Hall of Fame Head Coach Harry Meeks said. "Our three-point shooters had a really good night shooting the ball. When we can do that, we're going to be in the basketball game. We were able to get a lot of layups in the second half just from running our offense and it sort of took them out of the game."

"When you keep pushing the ball down the floor and they are not used to that, we're going to get to the basket," Meeks added. "Our goal is to play as hard as we can and make the other team weary."

VU was led offensively by freshman Cherrelle Newsom who finished with 15 points on five made three-pointers. Newsom also finished with a team-high five assists.

Sophomore Laila Grant began hitting from long range in the second half, hitting four threes on her way to 14 points on the night. Grant would also grab three rebounds and dish out three assists.

Sophomore Nina Blade came off the bench to add 13 points of her own. Blade would also grab four rebounds, including three offensive rebounds.

Freshman Kylee Shelton returned to action in style after missing the last four games, coming off the bench to score 12 points. Shelton filled out the stats sheet with four rebounds, three assists and a team-high three steals.

Elena Aznar finished with 11 points on the night, serving more as a distributor in the second half, dishing out four assists, grabbing six rebounds and coming away with a pair of steals defensively.

"Clyde and I have really worked on our offense and we've worked on sharing the ball," Meeks said. "Sometimes we may pass it too much and then there are times where we won't pass it enough. But we are getting better."

"One thing that I like about this team is we keep making progress," Meeks added. "We keep working on the little things and if we can come out and get off to a good start we are going to be tough to deal with. I told our team in the locker room, I'm not overjoyed when I've got just one player scoring 28 points a game. I would much rather have four or five players average around 14 to 15 points a game. That makes for a happier team and it makes us much harder to play against."

"If we can take care of the ball, play our defense and keep the ball in front of us, we should be in every game the rest of the season."

The Lady Trailblazers will have a week to prepare for their next opponent in No. 5-ranked Wabash Valley Wednesday, Feb. 16. VU will hit the road to Mt. Carmel, Ill. to take on the Lady Warriors who are still unbeaten in Region 24 play. Tip-off time will be 6 p.m. eastern.

Vincennes will then have a quick turnaround as they host Shawnee Community College Thursday, Feb. 17 at the P.E. Complex in a game that was postponed last Saturday. Tip-off time for this game will be 5 p.m. eastern.

"We'll have two players that weren't available to us the last time we played Wabash Valley this time," Meeks noted as Laila Grant and Trinitee Harris were serving suspensions when VU hosted Wabash Valley in December. "Wabash Valley is a really good basketball team. They have a bunch of Division I players on that team that all can play."

"We are going to have to continue to improve defensively," Meeks added. "We will have to continue to run our offense. We have to shoot a higher percentage when we play them because they are going to try to press and run the ball, like we try to play. It may be a track meet next week. I'm pleased with my team and we are going to try to play them as tough defensively as we can and we will let the chips fall where they may."

VINCENNES BOX SCORE

VINCENNES (85): DayLynn Thornton 2-5 1-2 5, Cherrelle Newsom 5-10 0-0 15, Elena Aznar 5-10 1-2 11, Macy Michels 1-5 3-4 5, Laila Grant 5-8 0-2 14, Trinitee Harris 1-4 0-0 2, Chanice Willis 2-7 0-0 4, Nina Blade 5-7 3-3 13, Candela Lascorz 2-2 0-0 4, Kylee Shelton 5-11 0-0 12, Cristina Requejo 0-1 0-0 0, Anete Bluma 0-2 0-0 0, Team 33-72 8-13 85.

VU (17-7, 10-2) – 20  24  23  18 – 85

John A. Logan – 16  14  19  14 – 63

Three-point goals: VU 11 (Newsom 5, Grant 4, Shelton 2). Rebounds: VU 40 (Willis 8). Assists: VU 25 (Newsom 5). Steals: 13 (Shelton 3). Blocked shots: VU 2 (Michels, Harris). Turnovers: VU 17. Personal Fouls: VU 11.