Southern Indiana (16-6, 7-4 GLVC): 75
Missouri-St. Louis (10-12, 6-7 GLVC): 66
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EVANSVILLE, Ind.—For the first 35 minutes of the University of Southern Indiana women's basketball team's game against the University of Missouri-St. Louis, the Screaming Eagles went back-and-forth with the visiting Tritons, trading leads 13 times before finding themselves in tie for the 17th time of the contest heading into the final five minutes of the game.
The final five minutes, however, belonged to the Eagles and it was the home team's depth that helped spur the squad to a hard-fought 75-66 victory over their GLVC West Division foe Thursday evening at the Physical Activities Center.
With the score tied at 59-59 with just under five minutes to play, sophomore guard Rinesha Soaper drained a three-pointer to give the Eagles a three-point advantage. Soaper, who finished with nine points off the bench, hit a jumper 40 seconds later to stake the Eagles to a 64-60 advantage they would not surrender.
USI (16-6, 7-4 GLVC), which was 24-of-31 from the free throw line, connected on nine of its final 10 shots from the charity stripe within the final five minutes as it ended its season-long three game winning streak with the nine-point victory.
Sophomore forward/center Ashton Mertens, who came off the bench to score 11 of her 13 points in the final 20 minutes, ended any chance of a Tritons' comeback as she followed her own missed shot with a lay-up to give USI a 70-63 lead with a minute-and-a-half to play.
Early on, the Eagles looked to sophomore guard Cootie Leeberg to provide them with a spark. Leeberg came off the bench to score eight of her 10 points in the first period as USI overcame an early five-point deficit to take a 34-30 halftime advantage. In all, the Eagles bench provided the team with 35 points, 19 of which came in the second half.
USI's reserves were not the only reason the Eagles were able to pull out the nine-point win. Junior guard Ellen Young scored a team-high 16 points and had a game-high four steals to energize the Eagles, while senior guard/forward Abby Williams grabbed a game and season-high 11 rebounds to help USI hold the Tritons to just nine second-chance points.
Missouri-St. Louis (10-12, 6-7 GLVC) was aided by the play of sophomore guard/forward Hailee Deckard, who finished with a game-high 21 points.
The Eagles, who converted 25-Missouri-St. Louis turnovers into 30 points, can clinch a GLVC Tournament berth with a win over Rockhurst University Saturday. The Hawks (6-15, 2-11 GLVC) fell to No. 2 University of Indianapolis, 97-50, Thursday night in Indianapolis. Tip-off for Saturday's Homecoming game is slated for 1 p.m. at the PAC.
