FORT WAYNE, Ind. – The Indiana Tech women's basketball opened their home slate of games on Thursday night at the Schaefer Center with a 87-78 victory over in-state rival Taylor.
 
Haley Cook led the Warriors with a team-high 30 points 7-12 shooting and went 13-16 from the free throw line while grabbing seven rebounds. Taylor Seiss added 19 points while Keanna Gary scored 11 points, pulled down four rebounds and picked up three steals. Kendall Knapke contributed nine points and four rebounds as well.
 
The Warriors would jump out to a 14-2 lead over the Trojans in the first four and a half minutes of the game, using four Taylor turnovers and a good inside-outside combination of Cook, Seiss and Gary to control the pace early. The hosts would end the first quarter ahead 22-11 before using an 11-2 run in the second quarter to extend their lead to 18 points with 90 seconds to go in the half.
 
The visitors would battle back in the second half behind Kendall Bradbury's 18 points as she finished the game with 32, and would cut the deficit to single digits multiple times in the fourth quarter, but could only get as close as eight as the Orange and Black went 8-11 from the charity stripe in the last two minutes of the game to open their home schedule with a win.
 
Tech (3-0) returns to action on Saturday as they host Calumet College of St. Joseph in a 5 p.m. tipoff from the Schaefer Center.