Southern Indiana (16-8, 10-6 GLVC): 69
at #23 Indianapolis (20-7, 11-5 GLVC): 54
-Box Score:
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INDIANAPOLIS—The University of Southern Indiana women's basketball team scored 22 of the game's first 24 points as it cruised to a 69-54 Great Lakes Valley Conference victory over No. 23 University of Indianapolis Thursday evening.
USI (16-8, 10-6 GLVC) drained five three-pointers in the first 11 minutes and eight in the first half as it raced out to a commanding 42-12 lead at the break. Five different players hit three-pointers for the Screaming Eagles in the opening period, including three from senior guard
Stephanie Carpenter and two from junior guard
Autumn Miller.
The Eagles' ball movement, which resulted in 24 assists, continuously led to open shots throughout the contest. "We made a lot of extra passes for open looks," USI Head Coach
Rick Stein said. "We passed up good shots for great shots, whether it was from the perimeter-inside or inside-out. You have to credit our players for passing up shots for better looks."
Defensively, the Eagles completely shut down the host Greyhounds' offense in the first 10 minutes as UIndy missed its first 12 shots from the field.
"Indy is one of the top scoring teams in the country and we held them to 12 points in the first half," Stein said. "We did a good job of taking away their strengths and we contested every shot. We did not allow open looks, which are generally made baskets for them."
Meanwhile, while the Eagles' guards were draining three-pointer after three-pointer in the first half, junior forward/center
Anna Hackert began to find open looks in the paint. "They had to extend that zone defense in the second half," Stein said. "Of course when you open up the middle, we have players that can make plays. I thought Anna had a great game and made some big plays in both halves."
Hackert paced the Eagles with a game-high 18 points and nine rebounds, while Carpenter, who set the program's all-time record for career three-pointers with her first shot from behind the arc, finished with 12 points and three assists. Miller added 11 points, six rebounds, and a game-high five assists, while junior guard
Libby Ogden and senior forward/center
Nicole Hazemi finished with nine and eight points, respectively.
"I thought our point guard play was fantastic," Stein said. "Autumn goes for 11 points, six rebounds, five assists, and no turnovers! Five assists and no turnovers are one thing, but then you add in three steals and five defensive rebounds, I think you really have to give her a lot of credit on both ends of the court."
UIndy (20-7, 11-5 GLVC) cut the Eagles' lead to 24 with just under 10 minutes to play in the second half, but Carpenter's fourth three-pointer of the game followed by a layup by Hackert off an assist from Carpenter quickly put the Eagles back up by 29 (62-33) with 8:31 to play.
The Eagles shot 47.4 percent (27-57) from the field, including 50.0 percent (9-18) from three-point range. USI shot 51.6 percent (16-31) from the field in the first half and held UIndy to just 17.9 percent (5-28) from the field in the first 20 minutes.
USI, which swept the regular-season series with UIndy, concludes its regular-season road schedule Saturday when it travels to Rensselaer, Indiana, to take on Saint Joseph's College. The Pumas (6-18, 3-13 GLVC) fell to Bellarmine University, 65-63, Thursday evening.
