FORT WAYNE, Ind. – The No. 14-ranked Indiana Tech women's basketball team defeated the University of Saint Francis 80-74 Saturday morning in their home opener inside the Schaefer Center.
 
Kyra Whitaker had a game-high 23 points along with three steals and two blocks while Erika Foy recorded 15 points and 10 rebounds. Jules Cutrara had 13 points while Taya Andrews recorded nine points, six rebounds, five assists and two steals.
 
Saint Francis took an early 4-0 lead and didn't allow the Warriors to score until the 7:46 mark. The Cougars grew their lead to 9-4 by the 5:34 mark before pushing it to 13-7 with 3:04 to play in the first quarter. A free throw from Cutrara at the 4:30 mark snapped a two-minute scoring drought for Tech and started what would be a 12-6 run for the hosts, with Cutrara scoring six of the team's points in the spurt.
 
After ending the quarter in the exact same place as they started the game with a 17-17 score, the Warriors began the second on a 10-3 run, with Whitaker scoring the last eight points to put her team up 27-20 with 7:19 to go in the opening half. USF came roaring back though with a 10-0 run to go ahead 30-27 with 4:28 until the half. The two teams traded buckets over the last four minutes of the period while a triple from Whitaker with 1:19 to play made it a 39-35 lead for the Orange and Black.
 
Tech continued its hot shooting in the third as they opened up the second half on a 11-4 run to make it a 50-39 game with 6:46 left in the quarter. The lead would never dip under six for the rest of the period while a three-pointer from Andrews put the Warriors up 62-50 right before the horn sounded.
 
Saint Francis started the fourth on a 6-0 run to cut the deficit in half, only to see the Warriors push the lead back up to 13 points thanks to back-to-back buckets from Foy and Bree Dossen with just over six minutes to play. Three straight triples from the Cougars got them withing six points and 3:40 left on the clock while they cut the deficit to 74-70 and 1:52 to play. Tech showed their mental toughness down the stretch though as Andrews went 6-6 from the free throw line over the final 28 seconds and picked up a key steal prior to the free throw parade to ice the game away.
 
Tech (2-0) returns to action Tuesday as they host Miami University-Hamilton for their Kids Day. Tip-off is set for 11 a.m. from the Schaefer Center.