LAKELAND, Fla. – The No. 6-ranked Indiana Tech women's basketball team defeated No. 2-ranked Southeastern University, 60-55, on Friday afternoon inside the Furnace to close out its fall semester slate. The Warriors extended their winning streak to 14 games while they ended the Fire's 64-game regular season winning streak and 42-game home winning streak with the victory.
DeAnn Kauffman led all players with 16 points while
Bella Lozano-Dobbs had 15 points, four rebounds, two assists and two steals.
Kendall Knapke chipped in 12 points and eight rebounds while
Alexis Hill added eight points and 11 rebounds.
Tech jumped out to a 6-0 lead following back-to-back three pointers from Kauffman and Knapke before going on an 11-0 run to take a 17-4 game with 2:39 left in the first quarter. The Warriors would hold the Fire scoreless for 6:56 during the period before the hosts scored the final basket of the period at the 1:58 mark.
Southeastern scored the first six points of the second quarter to make it a 17-12 game just under two minutes into the period, but a 6-2 spurt from the Orange and Black extended their lead to 23-14 at the 4:46 mark. The hosts would get a triple right before the buzzer to cap a 7-2 run and make it a 27-26 game at the half.
The third quarter would be a back-and-forth affair as SEU took its first lead of the game at the 8:43 before a 7-0 run from the visitors put the Warriors back ahead 37-31 with 6:19 on the clock. The Fire countered with a 10-0 run to take a 41-37 lead, but Lozano-Dobbs would hit a basket at the buzzer to tie the game up at 41-41 at the end of three quarters of action.
Lozano-Dobbs then nailed a three-pointer to begin the fourth while Knapke followed that up with a triple of her own to give Tech a 47-41 lead with 8:48 to go in the game. A 9-2 run from the Fire would put them ahead 50-49 with just over six minutes on the clock, but Kauffman would score the next seven points for the Warriors to make it a 56-52 game at the 2:53 mark. Both teams would go cold shooting over the next 1:54 before a triple from Southeastern made it a one-point game with 59 seconds left in the contest.
Alexis Hill would grab an offensive rebound and put it back in to extend the lead to 58-55 with 24 seconds on the clock. The Warriors employed the "foul them so they can't shoot" strategy in the waning 20 seconds of the game, thanks to only three teams fouls called on the Orange and Black to that point. SEU would miss both their attempts from the free throw line and missed their only shot from the field over that stretch as well, while Hill iced the game with a pair of free throws with two seconds to go to put the bow on the 60-55 victory.
Tech finishes the fall semester 15-1 and will return to action on Wednesday, January 2, as they return to Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference (WHAC) action by hosting Aquinas College. Tip-off is set for 6 p.m. from the Schaefer Center.
