The IUS women’s basketball team defeated Union College, 71-59, in the Activities Building on Nov. 22.

This was the Grenadiers fourth win of the season, moving their record to 4-3, overall. They are currently ranked No. 19 in the National Athletic Intercollegiate Association Conference.

“I’m just really happy for the girls,” Robin Farris, IUS women’s basketball head coach, said, “[because] they played so hard in the second half.”

Union controlled the game all the way until late in the second half when IU Southeast gained spark from Kylee Anthony, junior guard, off the bench.

“I think [Union] started hanging their heads a little bit,” Farris said.

IU Southeast trailed most of the game and never seemed like they were going to be able to get past Union’s defensive pressure. Union forced 17 IUS turnovers but only scored 10 points off of those. They continued to make the Grenadiers settle for outside jump shots.

The Grenadiers began to rally around the 10-minute mark of the second half thanks to the defensive pressure they put on the Bulldogs.
“We got a little lucky,” Farris said. “[We] banked a couple shots in I don’t think we were trying to bank, but sometimes that helps.”

It was not until around the seven-minute mark in the second half that IU Southeast gained their first lead since they led in the first half, 4-0.

Tia Wineinger, senior forward, hit a three-pointer to put the Grenadiers over the hump, 56-54.

“I’m not real confident sometimes in my shooting,” Wineinger said.

While Wineinger said she may not be confident in her shooting ability, she did not show it. She sank another three-pointer a minute later to give the Grenadiers a little breathing room, putting them up 62-56.

Farris said his team has seemed to lose some of their confidence in shooting three-pointers because they moved the three-point line back to where the men shoot from.

They shot 28 percent from behind the three-point arc and shot 4 of 14 from there, as well.

The Grenadiers started the game off rough, allowing Union to go on a 12-0 run in the game’s first four minutes before Farris was forced to call a time-out to regroup his squad.

“We just couldn’t get any stops on defense,” Farris said.

Out of the time-out, IU Southeast managed to bring the lead down to five and gained some momentum heading in halftime thanks to a lay-up by Heather Wheat, freshman guard, bringing the score 36-31, Union.

The second half was much of the same thing for the Grenadiers, forcing them to take bad shots and turned the ball over numerous times. They would rally at times, but it appeared they were not going to get over Union’s staggering defense.

IU Southeast took a substantial lead over Union after a three-pointer from Megan Murphy, senior forward, to secure the game with just more than a minute to go. Murphy had a double-double with 12 points and 17 rebounds.

Farris said he felt Ashmere Woods, junior guard, had one of her best games of the year. She scored a team-high 17 points and added 7 rebounds, 4 assists and 4 steals.

“I’m glad we came back and won,” Woods said. “I was getting tired of losing.”

IU Southeast beat Union in just about every category as IU Southeast had a 6-0 advantage on fast break points, scoring 13 points off of Union’s 12 turnovers. The Grenadiers also  added 20 points off the bench.

By JOSH WILSON

Staff

wilsjosh@ius.edu