FORT WAYNE, Ind. – The No. 14-ranked Indiana Tech women's basketball team defeated Mount Vernon Nazarene University, 66-59, Saturday afternoon in the final game of the Warrior Classic inside the Schaefer Center.
 
Emma Tuominen and Bethany Worm both had a team-high 15 points, with the former going 5-7 from the field and collecting five rebounds while the latter was 6-10 from the floor and 3-5 from three-point range to go along with seven rebounds. Erika Foy had 13 points, seven rebounds, three assists and two blocks while Taya Andrews had 11 points, five assists and three rebounds. MVNU's Maggie Coblentz led all scorers with 22 points off the bench.
 
Tech raced out to a 10-4 lead and held the Cougars scoreless for nearly three minutes at one point, but the visitors came storming back with a 5-2 run to end the quarter and pull within 17-16 of the Warriors.
 
A 6-2 spurt from the Cougars put them up 22-19 with 6:33 to play in the first half but a triple from Laney Steckler on the fast break started an 8-0 run for the hosts to put them back on top 27-22. Tech then went cold for a 3:13 stretch, but held Mount Vernon in check with just five points during the drought, but a bucket from Coblentz put the Cougars ahead 33-31 at the break.
 
Mount Vernon was only able to get ahead by four points in the third quarter as the two teams battled back and forth in front of a sold-out gym. Worm had herself a quarter with 10 points on 4-6 shooting, including a pair of triples and the two teams entered the fourth quarter locked up at 49.
 
The Cougars got ahead 55-51 with 6:52 to play following an and-one play by Rylee Pireu, but a bucket from Worm started a 6-0 run for the Warriors to put them back on top 57-55 with 3:51 to go. A bucker from Pireu snapped a nearly three-and-a-half minute scoring drought for the Cougars, but they would not score again after the two-minute mark as Andrews put the Warriors up for good nine seconds later and the Orange and Black went 5-6 from the free throw line over the last 20 seconds of the game and clamped down defensively to come away with the win.
 
Tech (5-0) kicks off conference play Wednesday with a trip to Cornerstone University. Tip-off is set for 3 p.m. from Mol Arena.