FORT WAYNE, Ind. – The No. 9-ranked Indiana Tech women's basketball team suffered its first loss of the season Saturday afternoon inside the Schafer Center in an 85-79 setback to the University of Rio Grande, who improved to 11-0 on the season.
Kyra Whitaker led all players with 24 points on 6-12 shooting, including 5-9 from downtown, to go along with a career-high three blocks and two rebounds.
Taya Andrews added a season-best 23 points on 9-11 shooting with five assists and four rebounds while
Emma Tuominen collected her fifth double-double of the season with 16 points, 12 rebounds and four assists.
Tuominen gave the Warriors to start with an old-fashioned three-point play that was followed up by three-pointers from Whitaker and Andrews to make it a 9-2 lead at the 6:37 mark. The RedStorm battled back to cut the deficit to 11-10 that was thanks in part to a 3:36 scoring drought by the hosts, but a fastbreak triple from Whitaker snapped the drought as Tech held a slim 19-17 lead at the break.
The Warriors pushed their advantage to 10 points halfway through the second quarter thanks to a 9-3 run that made it 34-24 up on the scoreboard. Rio Grande wouldn't let the deficit stay in double digits for very long though as they responded with a jumper on their next possession and ended the half on an 11-6 run to cut the Tech lead to 40-35 at the half.
The visitors came out firing in the second half with an 8-5 spurt that made it 45-43 Tech with 6:24 to play in the third, but a four-point play from Whitaker put the momentum back on the side of the Orange and Black. The Warriors continued to slowly build their lead and held a 62-51 advantage with 42 seconds to play, but Rio Grande went on a 7-0 run to end the period, with Hailey Jordan scoring five of 11 points in the quarter to lead the charge, to trail 62-58 heading into the fourth quarter.
The RedStorm continued to build upon their momentum from the end of the third in the beginning of the fourth quarter as they tied the game up at 64 with 7:54 on the clock while a three-pointer from Ella Skeans, who ended the game with 14 points, put the visitors ahead 67-66 with 5:46 to go and started an 8-1 run. A pair of free throws from Whitaker brought Tech within three points at 72-69, and the Warriors would get back to just a three-point deficit two more times over the final 90 seconds of the game, but couldn't get any closer as Rio Grande avenged their loss from the 2021 NAIA National Championship Opening Round to the Orange and Black.
Tech (9-1) returns to conference action Wednesday as they host the University of Michigan-Dearborn. Tip-off is set for 6 p.m. from the Schaefer Center.
