FORT WAYNE, Ind. – The Indiana Tech women's basketball team bounced back from a tough loss on Saturday to pull out a 68-66 win over Siena Heights on Wednesday evening at the Schaefer Center.
Haley Cook had a team-high 13 points on 4-of-7 shooting, including 3-of-4 from the three point line, while pulling down six rebounds.
Rayana Villalpando tied her season-high in scoring with 12 points while adding a team-high seven rebounds and six assists.
Taylor Carver added 10 points and six rebounds while
Sarah White chipped in 10 points as well.
Kendall Knapke had nine points and six rebounds while
Taylor Seiss added six points.
Tech jumped out to an 8-0 lead in the first 97 seconds, with Cook hitting a pair of three pointers and forcing the Saints to call an early timeout. After the Warriors would get up 13-4, Siena Heights would come storming back as they closed the quarter on a 12-2 run and taking the lead with just four seconds to go in the period.
The Orange and Black would use another 8-0 spurt early in the second quarter to take back the lead and go up 27-23 with 5:46 left in the half. Tech would extend its lead to as many as nine with 1:38 to go in the period after a pair of free throws from Cook, but the visitors would score the last five points of the quarter to cut the deficit to 35-31.
A 7-0 run to open the second half would give the lead back to the Saints just 90 seconds into the third period, and five possessions later they would have their largest lead of the game at 42-37 with 6:36 left in the third.
An and-one play by Rinehart would spark a 9-3 lead to close the quarter as the Warriors took a 48-47 lead into the final 10 minutes thanks to a nifty pass from
Mikaela Lyons to
Claire Volpenhein.
The fourth quarter was a see-saw affair with five ties and four lead changes. The Orange and Black would take the lead for good with 5:29 to go after White hit a three to put Tech up 60-57. After the two sides traded baskets White would hit another three to put the Warriors up 65-59 and just over four minutes to go.
The Saints would cut the lead to two with 1:06 to go and had a chance to tie it up at 67 all, but could only convert one of its two free throw chances. Carver would then got 1-of-2 from the charity stripe on Tech's next possession, giving SHU a shot to tie or win the game at the buzzer, but the Warriors forced the visitors to turn the ball over and held on for the crucial conference victory.
Tech (14-9, 10-5 WHAC) returns to action on Monday when they welcome in Concordia to the Schaefer Center. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. and links to live stats and video will be available at IndianaTechWarriors.com.
