Southern Indiana (1-0): 70
at West Florida (0-1): 53
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PENSACOLA, Fla.—On the strength of a 25-6 run, the University of Southern Indiana women's basketball team rallied from an early 12-point deficit to record a 70-53 victory over the University of West Florida in its regular-season opener Friday afternoon at the UWF Tip-Off Classic.
Trailing 23-12 with just over six minutes to play in the first half, the Screaming Eagles used barrage of three-pointers to climb back into the contest.
Junior guard
Jessica Parker sandwiched a pair of three-pointers around two West Florida free throws and sophomore forward
Brooke Valentine scored on a layup as the Eagles closed to within five points in a matter of 45 seconds.
USI cut the deficit to two points when junior guard
Stephanie Carpenter got a three-pointer to fall; then took the lead for good (26-25) on another Carpenter three-pointer with 4:28 to play.
Junior guard
Ariel Barnes hit a free throw and scored a bucket moments later as USI went up by four with four minutes to play.
West Florida (0-1) ended USI's 14-0 run with a free throw on the back end of a two-shot foul, but USI responded with another three-pointer, this time by sophomore guard
Brierra Young as it built a 32-26 advantage. Young scored USI's final six points of the opening period as USI took a 35-29 lead into the intermission.
“I was proud of our team and the way they hung in there and fought,” Head Coach
Rick Stein said in his postgame interview with WPSR's
Michael Robertson. “There was a lot of intensity in the gym early. I thought we were really sloppy with the ball early and we didn't guard the way we wanted to.”
USI picked up where it left off in the opening minute of the second half as Barnes wrapped a pair of baskets around sophomore guard
Taylor Stevenson's free throw to give the Eagles a 40-29 advantage.
Sophomore forward/center
Anna Hackert scored all 10 of her points in the second period as USI did not allow the host Argonauts within nine points of their lead throughout the remainder of the contest.
Carpenter led the Eagles with a game-high 15 points, 10 of which came in the first 20 minutes, and tied a career-high in assists with five, while Barnes added 12 points. Sophomore forward/center
Cayla Herbst came off the bench to contribute a team-high nine rebounds in the win.
“I thought our bench was tremendous,” Stein said. “I thought we really wore them down. Hopefully our depth and our bench will help us tomorrow with the short turnaround.”
USI concludes the UWF Tip-Off Classic Saturday at noon against Georgia Southwestern State University. The Hurricanes fell to Barry University, 54-49, Friday.
“We'll see a totally different team tomorrow,” Stein said. “They (Georgia Southwestern State) really get in your face. We're going to see some pressure and we'll see some trapping.”
