In a cross-town women’s college basketball matchup, Saint Mary-of-the-Woods was just three points down midway through the first quarter, but Indiana State pulled away and rolled past the Pomeroys 102-50 on Monday morning in Hulman Center.
A crowd of 2,309 — including Vigo County School Corporation sixth-graders attending on ISU’s annual Education Day game — saw ISU top 100 points for the first time in nearly two decades.
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Paced by 17 points each from Tierney Kelsey and Jayci Allen, and Clemisha Prackett’s 11-points, 11-rebounds double-double, the Sycamores improved their record to 3-3. ISU hit 52% of its shots from the field. The Woods, a NAIA program, dropped to 0-8.
“First of all I just want to say, hats off to Saint Mary-of-the-Woods. This game came about with the former head coach of St. Mary’s, coach Bo [Terry Bowe]. He and I are really good friends, and we wanted to put this game together for the community,” said ISU’s second-year coach Marc Mitchell. “And I think it was a good turnout for the young kids here in the community.”
Indiana State opened the game with a pair of 3-pointers from Kelsey and Kayla Smith before a free throw for SMWC from Abigail Parker made it 6-1. SMWC got it as close as 14-11 with under four minutes go in the first quarter on a bucket from Samara Douglas. Kelsey cashed in for a deep 3-pointer to make it 20-13 as the Sycamores started to pull away.
Smith made it a double-digit game at 23-13 on a free throw moments after the 3 from Kelsey. But Kelsey sank another deep 3-pointer to make it 29-16. By the end of the first quarter, ISU held a 32-16 lead.
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In the second quarter, the Sycamores pushed it to a 21-point lead with a bucket from Prackett to make it 37-16. She finished with her third statistical double-double of the season.
“That was [from] attacking the rim a lot,” Prackett said of her totals. “I feel like we were doing good protecting our home.”
She praised the SMWC defense as aggressive.
The Sycamores’ defense stopped a Pomeroy fast break with just over six minutes remaining in the second quarter.
Parker hit a 3-pointer for The Woods with just under five minutes left in the second to make it 43-21.
At the halftime break, ISU held a 49-27 lead.
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The third quarter saw Kelsey stay hot from beyond the 3-point arc as she drained another to make it 54-30. ISU stayed aggressive on offensive as various Sycamore players drove down low against defenders, often resulting in free throws. Using crisp passing, ISU went up by 33 points on a bucket by Prackett. Soon, an Allen 3-pointer made it 73-37.
Allen finished with four rebounds to go with her co-game-high 17 points.
“I just tried to get my flow going and my teammates. They kept passing me the ball. They kept telling me it’s OK. I kept playing. Coach had faith in me, kept me in the game, just kept my flow going,” Allen said.
After three quarters of play, ISU held a 79-40 lead.
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In the fourth quarter, ISU went up 42 on a layup by Amerie Flowers to make it 82-40. Kennedy Claybrooks put ISU up 50 at 95-45 before Da’Naria Washington grabbed a bucket of her own as ISU went on a 13-0 run. ISU hit the century mark on a free throw by Ruth Sodipe. It was the first time the Indiana State women’s team hit 100 since 2006.
Mitchell said he’s emphasizing team play, sharing the ball and pushing each other to his players.
“I think we have the talent to really really be great in this Missouri Valley Conference,” Mitchell said. “But now we have to have the wherewithal to understand what we need to get done to be successful in February and March.”
Overall, he said the players are getting better and starting to understand.
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“When we’re sharing the basketball and when we find the hot hand like Jayci, we’re looking really good,” Mitchell said.
First-year SMWC Coach Tap’re Young said opportunity to play the NCAA Division I Sycamores in Hulman Center was the biggest takeaway for the Pomeroys on Monday morning.
“Just being thankful, being grateful, because not everybody gets that opportunity to play on a stage like that,” Young said, listing the pluses. “I told them enjoy it, embrace it, have fun.”
Abigail Parker and Samara Douglas led the Pomeroys with 15 points each.
“Just our energy, talking on defense, moving the ball was really big for us today, just things like that, it was all around great energy,” Douglas said of her team’s performance.
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SMWC (50) — Parker 5-9 2-5 15, Douglas 6-11 2-4 15, Harris 1-6 0-0 7, Moody 2-7 0-0 6, Stone 0-4 4-4 4, Ervin 1-4 0-0 3, Polston 0-5 2-2 2, Harris 1-6 0-0 2, Campbell 0-3 0-0 0, Nwachukwu 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 16-53 FG, 11-17 FT, 50 TP.
ISU (102) — Kelsey 4-9 5-6 17, Allen 7-14 1-2 17, Briggs 5-9 3-3 15, Flowers 6-9 1-4 13, Washington 5-6 0-2 10, Smith 3-5 1-1 9, Claybrooks 3-7 0-0 7, Ard 1-7 0-0 3, Sodipe 0-2 1-2 1, Tavares 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 39-75 FG, 13-22 FT, 1-2 TP.
SMWC 16 11 13 10 — 50ISU 32 17 30 23 — 1023-point shooting — SMWC 7-22 (Douglas 1-1, Parker 3-5, Moody 2-5, Ervin 1-3, Stone 0-1, Harris 0-2, Polston 0-3, Figures 0-0, Nwachukwu 0-0, ISU 11-36 (Smith 2-3, Briggs 2-5, Allen 2-8, Claybrooks 1-4, Prackett 0-1, Washington 0-1, Ard 0-6); FG Pct. — SMWC 30.2%, ISU 52%. Total fouls — SMWC 20, ISU 15. Fouled out — None. Rebounds — SMWC 38 (Figures 9, Douglas 7, Moody 4, Stone 3, Harris 2, Parker 2, Ervin 2, Polston 1, Campbell 1), ISU 46 (Prackett 11, Flowers 7, Briggs 5, Washington 4, Allen 4, Sodipe 3, Ard 2, Kelsey 2, Smith 1, Tavares 1). Assists — SMWC 9 (Parker 4, Harris 2, Stone 1, Figures 1, Campbell 1), ISU 28 (Washington 6, Claybrooks 6, Allen 4, Kelsey 4, Ard 3, Smith 2, Tavares 1, Prackett 1, Briggs 1). Turnovers — SMWC 27, ISU 6; Blocks — SMWC 1 (Nwachukwu 1), ISU 4 (Pracket 1, Kelsey 1, Washington 1, Allen 1).
Next — ISU (3-3) is back in action Saturday in Hulman Center at 2 p.m. against Eureka while SMWC (0-8) hosts East-West University on Tuesday, Dec. 2, at 5:30 p.m. in Knoerle Center.
