FORT WAYNE, Ind. – The Indiana Tech women's basketball team overcame a slow start with solid defense to upend Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference foe, Cornerstone, 61-56 on Wednesday night at Dan Kline Court in the Schaefer Center.

The Warriors (12-13, 11-6) upset the Golden Eagles (17-8, 12-5), who are receiving votes in the current NAIA Coaches' Top-25 Poll, avenging their loss in Grand Rapids, Mich. earlier this season.

Both teams struggled early on with neither scoring for the first two minutes, however, the visitors scored the first five points and nine of 12 to open an early six-point margin. Back-to-back baskets from Lindsey Masnari and Shallante Clements tied the score at 9-9, but CU responded with five unanswered points to regain the lead. The defense stepped up though, holding the Golden Eagles scoreless for the next eight minutes while the offense used a 14-0 run to take a nine-point, 23-14 lead with 6:14 left in the half. After trading a few baskets, Cornerstone scored the final five points of the first half to cut the Warriors lead to just four, 28-24.

Tech refocused and came out ready to play in the second half, scoring six straight points to push the lead to a game-high 10. The teams traded runs for the much of the half with the lead fluctuating between five and 10 points until CU strung together a 6-0 run to cut their deficit to just four, 47-43 with five minutes to play. Five consecutive points from Taylor Carver pushed the margin back to nine and after another run by the Golden Eagles made it a four-point game, Tech was sent to the free throw line 10 times in the final 1:45, converting nine of those opportunities to ice the game away, 61-56.

In the Warriors biggest win of the season it was the defense that stole the show, forcing 20 turnovers, holding CU to just 35.6 percent (21-for-59) shooting and allowing just two three-pointers. The offense did just enough to win, sinking 21-of-58 (36.2%) shots while going 2-for-15 (13.3%) from long range and 17-for-20 (85%) at the charity stripe.

Carver finished with a game-high 17 points and grabbed nine of the Warriors 40 rebounds to lead the team. Masnari finished with 11 points and seven boards while Taylor Seiss scored 10 points for Tech.

The Warriors return to action on Saturday, Feb. 7 in Southfield, Mich. when they face Lawrence Tech at Don Ridler Field House with tip-off scheduled for 1 p.m. Live stats and video of the contest are available at www.indianatechwarriors.com/live.

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Women's Basketball Contact: Zachary Shore | 260.422.5561 x. 2492 | zrshore@indianatech.edu
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